Nataliia Tomenko, M.A.
Education
- 2019-2021: MA in Cultural Heritage Studies at the Central European University in Vienna, Austria.
- 2018-2019: Roma Graduate Preparation Program at the Central European University in Budapest, Hungary.
- 2015-2018: MA in Graphic Design at the Kharkiv State Academy of Design and Arts, Ukraine.
- 2011-2015: BA in Graphic Design at the Kremenchuk University of Economics, Information Technology and Management, Ukraine.
Occupations
- Since 2022: History and Commemoration thematic section coordinator at the European Roma Institute for Arts and Culture (ERIAC) in Berlin, Germany.
- 2020-2021: National Volunteers Coordinator in Ukraine at the European Roma Rights Center (ERRC) in Brussels, Belgium.
- Since 2019: Chief Visionary Officer at the Agency for the Advocacy of Roma Culture (ARCA) in Ukraine.
- 2016-2018: Graphic designer at the corporation Victor and Company in Ukraine.
Grants and awards
- 2023: Romani Rose-Fellow at the Antiziganism Research Center at the Department of History, Heidelberg University, Germany.
- 2022: Artist Residency Grant from the Goethe-Institut in Mannheim and Documentation and Cultural Center of German Sinti and Roma in Heidelberg, Germany.
- 2022: Emergency Grant for activists at risk from the Foundation Remembrance, Responsibility and Future (EVZ), Berlin, Germany
- 2019- 2021: Scholarship from the Central European University, Vienna, Austria.
- 2018-2019: Scholarship from the Romani Studies Program and the Roma Education Fund, Budapest, Hungary.
- 2013-2018: Scholarship “Law and Humanities Program (LHP)” from the Roma Education Fund, Budapest, Hungary.
- 2015-2018: Scholarship from the Kharkiv State Academy of Design and Arts, Ukraine.
- 2014: Scholarship to complete Practical Art Summer School from the University of Tubingen, Germany.
Contribution to public events 2022
- December: organization of the event “Roma Civil Society Forum on Ukraine” in Berlin, Germany and curation of the exhibition “Catharsis” at the Bildungsforum gegen Antiziganismus in Berlin, Germany.
- November: delivering a presentation during the Artist talk at the Heidelberger Forum für Kunst, Germany.
- September: delivering a speech during the United Nations minority rights meeting on Roma and Memorialization in Geneva, Switzerland.
- August: delivering a speech at the Commemoration Ceremony on occasion of the European Holocaust Memorial Day for Sinti and Roma in Auschwitz, Poland.
- May: delivering a presentation at the Critical Approaches to Romani Studies Conference at the Södertörn University in Stockholm, Sweden.
- March: delivering a speech during the Supplementary Human Dimension Meeting at the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights in Vienna, Austria.
Main areas of work
- Roma cultural heritage in Ukraine
- visual representation of Roma history, arts and culture
- Roma genocide during the Second World War
Research project
Antigypsyism influence on Roma Cultural Heritage in Ukraine
The current research observes to what extent antigypsyism impacts the perceptions of the Roma cultural heritage which is visible for the majority of the society in Ukraine as represented on a state level, in media, museum archives; and Roma private collections in the NGO sector, in Roma media and social networks. I propose to explore other possible conceptualizations of Roma cultural heritage, while analyzing the potential aspects of heritage using the concept of the participative culture: asking people, and members of the Ukrainian Roma community how they define their own Roma heritage in Ukraine. In particular, I am paying special attention to the community members that have been facing antigypsyism during the war in Ukraine that started on 24 February 2022.
