Abstract

The text analyzes the background and process of gender identity in the post­Soviet area, as well as strategies of their representation. Today, we can consider them as a form of communication. The focus is on the forms and practices of socio­critical art, and in particular an action and its manifestations in the context of Ukrainian and Russian cultural, social, political and economic realities. It includes the is analysis of the actions and forms of art groups and community groups like «Voina», «Pussy Riot», «Femen» and others. The ways of gender identity is linked closely with the struggle against the patriarchal system and power structures. Art­practices spread in Western Europe and North America in the middle of XX century. They were theoretically grounded via existential, feminist and gender theory. Understanding and the beginning of the actual formation of multiple forms of identity, especially gender identity, and the development of modern art forms in post­Soviet area occurs almost simultaneously with the crisis and the collapse of the USSR. The deconstruction of the concept of self and collective identity has become a cultural fact required to integrate into the modern culture and development for people living in the post­Soviet region. In addition, the article rises the issue of the construction of national identity. The certain stage of this process is closely overlap with the construction of gender identity. In the post­Soviet region, these processes have become a way of rehabilitation of mental injuries that were acquired during the Soviet period.