In the Wild – Femininity as Instinct: Veronika Butkevich

Written by: Lauren Bulla

Edited by: Jude Jones

Photography: Veronika Butkevich

Upon attempting to dissect London’s vast creative scene and all its parts, it swiftly becomes apparent that many artists and creatives are not merely relegated to one medium or one scene specifically. Rather, many are inherently representative of a wider net of innovative overlapping artistic practices which interweave and interact like an undulating organism. Anything but stagnant. No, these pathways of creation and connection are alive, breathing even. This is undoubtedly the case for multidisciplinary photographer and videographer, Veronika Butkevich, who builds worlds within her distinct visual identity, showcasing her background in film and experimental visual media.

Butkevich’s background and distinct artistic practise proceeds her, having attained notable experience in film editing at The Film Academy of Miroslav Ondricek and an MA in 3D Computer Animation from the University of the Arts London. These two experiences assisted in shaping her unique practice which has only been furthered by the inherent electricity of the London creative scene. Butkevich’s works have appeared across television, theatre and print, alongside myriad independent platforms and publications.

The narrative worlds Butkevich constructs are not born of polished surfaces. This is by design. Instead, her work contorts onto itself, defining its positionality by way of friction: Softness buffering against edge. Impulse contradicting control. Artifice juxtaposing the raw urge to break through. In the Wild begs questions as to what forms femininity takes when the frame is left shattered—freed from—rattled, on the sidelines of the very restriction it was told it would never break from. Her work interrogates the audience, what does it mean when these silhouettes lean forward, command space. What are we to do when femininity refuses to engage politely, rebukes a tidy resolve?

This tension between expectation and activation is neither new, nor incidental. Rather, it behaves as a recurring inquiry that pulses through the works. This is not a new theme for Butkevich, though it takes new forms. The artist routinely examines the ways femininity is performed, policed and mythologised. In the Wild expands this investigation, sharpening it into a visceral, embodied form. She often returns to a central theme: when left to instinct, how would femininity behave if not for being guided by the parameters of performance?

Here, femininity becomes both animalistic and otherworldly. driven by an almost primal urgency, an unknowable version between the physical world and something entirely intangible and shadowed still by impossible idealisations of womanhood. The visual language of the work acknowledges the ways that women are encouraged to be accessible yet flawless, powerful yet harmless – an untenable duality where anticipations of perfection become unwavering forms of constraint.

This body of work is left to unsettle the viewer: suddenly the ethereal becomes sharp. Meanwhile, thrashing feral urges embody a siren-like beauty, alluring and unknown.

In her wider practice, Butkevich works fluidly across photography, moving image, mixed media, and installation. In the Wild sits squarely within this liminal space. What begins as a photographic image expands into something atmospheric and multi-layered: part portrait, part performance, part spatial intervention. The dark environment plays a crucial role. A habitat of darkened, dense grass amplifies the threshold between human and something harder to define. The background becomes the primary mouthpiece for a wider feeling—that this juxtaposition of feminine forms is at home somehow, and yet remains entirely out of place.
As the shoot panned out, the project evolved into that of a live performance. The model fully immersed herself in this feral persona, passersby were drawn in, watching, responding, real time. The boundary between performer and audience suddenly dissolved. Reflective of the artist’s multidisciplinary practice, the photographs are not merely representative of the final image but of the tension, the movement, the shared space formed in the environment which created those very images is caught within the frame as well.

Not only is Butkevich driving her own creative vision forward, she is also an active member in the community. In 2025, she organised Come n See, a film club showcasing queer emerging artists, in which she was also a participant. This project actively built a reciprocal relationship between creative and audience, forming meaningful ties amongst community members and creatives alike.

In her own words: “My personal artist’s works are deeply shaped by growing up in a closeted dictatorship environment – where not only was it impossible to express your sexuality, gender identity, or “unconventional views,” but even fully realise them yourself.” Seeking to build bridges to create conversations where there was once only silence, Butkevich is championing works and community networks that build off shared notions of resilience, radical tenderness, and “the slow, powerful process of becoming.”