Interview with Oksana Lyubovitskaya - President of the Board of the O.V.A. Foundation.

- I am a person who looks at the world with curiosity and passionately supports people who want to change it for the better," says Oksana Lubowiecka, an entrepreneur and president of the O.V.A. Foundation in Kraków, who combines business experience with attention to people and their needs. Concrete and proactive, instead of talking about change, she prefers to act.

Interviewee Andrzej Giza

Andrew Giza: Oksana, I always refer to you as „Sia” and maybe we should stay with that. You have been supporting female artists, mainly graduates of the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow, in building their careers for several years now. Do you translate your experience from business to the art market?

Oksana Lubovetska: I know it is needed. I know many women, not just artists, who never got the chance because of unfavourable life circumstances. These are women who are talented, sensitive, ready to move forward but held back by lack of support, social pressure. For me, a person with business experience, it is clear that women are often better able to manage their own performance. For centuries they have had to reconcile multiple roles and in all this still find space for personal development. I want to help them with this.

Who is Oksana Lubovetska?

- I am a person who looks at the world with curiosity and is passionate about supporting people who want to change it for the better. This is probably the closest to how I understand philanthropy.

Continuing the family tradition of supporting those in need, you have decided to focus on women. But what if an artist asks you for help? Do you divide art into women's and men's?

- I believe in helping those who have the hardest start in the first place regardless of gender, although I am most keen to help women. I do not support art as an idea, but people and their desire to change and shape their own lives. I am closer to the fate of women, which is why I mainly want to focus my actions on them. My experience so far shows that I am not looking for parity among those I want to give a hand to.

Why did you decide to give this activity a formal structure just now?

- I have been helping since forever. It's something that is deeply ingrained in me. I was brought up in such a home, and I inherited the desire to help women from my mother. At some point there was a need to organise these activities, to give them direction and sustainability. Thanks to Ania Litwora-Bryt, my friend and close colleague, we managed to go through the whole formalisation process and set up the O.V.A. Foundation.

The name of the foundation has a special meaning for me. Omnia vincit amor (Love conquers all) is not only a beautiful Latin phrase, but also the title of one of my favourite graphics by Anna Sobol-Wejman. This phrase carries a simple and powerful message. Real change, regardless of field or gender, starts with relationships, care and commitment. This is the spirit in which we want to act. Out of love for people and the world, which can and should be shaped for the better.

Do you agree with Peggy Guggenheim's maxim that art is magic?

- For me, art is a source of happiness and balance. It's something that puts me in a positive frame of mind, inspires me and gives me joy. For the people who create it, it's obviously something much deeper - a way of expressing themselves, a spiritual need. This fascinates me.

You make no secret of your strong ties to Krakow and its environment. Will the foundation focus on activities related to the dissemination of the work of artists from this circle only?

- For Krakow, art and culture are a source of identity. I grew up in this atmosphere. Krakow is my haven, here are my friends, the artists I value and support, and with whom I collaborate. I would like my foundation to be open to diversity. It is no coincidence that I decided to dedicate its first major project to the Cracovian Professor Stanisław Wejman.

Professor Stanisław Wejman is an iconic figure among contemporary masters of printmaking. (...) Why exactly him?

- His work and teaching activities exemplify for me the wise and consistent support of young artists. His works, like those of his wife Anna Sobol-Wejman, have accompanied me on a daily basis for years. (...) This is how the idea of preparing a large monographic presentation of his work was born. This is in recognition of his work and the influence he has had on generations of young artists.

Although the O.V.A. Foundation was established primarily to support women, I believe that it is important to recognise those who have created this support for young people over the years. Professor Wejman is such a figure to me - a quiet ally to many women's and men's artistic careers.

You travel a lot, visiting exhibitions and galleries. (...) Do these kinds of experiences inspire you?

- Definitely yes. Exhibitions such as those at the Fondation Louis Vuitton or the Palazzo Barberini are proof that art can be not only an aesthetic experience, but also an important part of the social and cultural life of cities. (...) I dream that more and more projects that attract the attention of international audiences will also appear in Poland.

Today, the O.V.A. Foundation is a concrete support for women and the first major exhibition project by Professor Stanisław Wejman. And what's next? How do you envisage the foundation developing in the coming years?

- I would like the foundation to remain true to its values, but at the same time be ready to take on new challenges. (...) I hope it will become a place that supports, inspires and gives others real tools for action.

So what to wish you for the next five years?

- Good luck in making our dreams come true and good energy like that during our conversation.

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