Personal Introduction
Inna Rogatchi-Bujanover-Chigrinsky’s family includes great teachers, pioneering engineers and inventors, famed doctors, outstanding scientists, widely respected public figures, and world-famous musicians. She is the wife of the renowned artist Michael Rogatchi.
Inna’s family is related to the famous Mahler-Rose-Bujanover musical dynasty. Inna’s great-aunt, outstanding violist Eleanor Rose had been the closest friend for life of the great film director Fritz Lang, the niece of Gustav Mahler and the first cousin of the famous musician Alma Rose who tragically died in Auschwitz.
Artistic Biography
During her professional career, Inna has worked actively on several paths of literature, history, science, culture and the arts.
Actively working in the fields of history of art and culture, material history, modern arts and memorial architecture, arts and spirituality as scholar and author, Inna has been participating in number of international conferences on Cultural Development of Europe, Arts and Humanity, Memorial Architecture, Art, Holocaust and post-Holocaust, and the others. She publishes her scholar works and essays on art history, memorial arts , arts and mentality, psychological and philosophical dimensions of arts in leading international media and is internationally acclaimed author on the subject. She is exceptionally interested and works on the series of projects related to Vincent van Gogh, Rene Magritte, Leonard Cohen whom she had a privilege to know personally, and other giants of the world’s cultural heritage.
Inna started her artistic career as fine art photographer, exploring the genre metaphorical art photography, and focusing on works with philosophical meaning and poetic form. She have had over 120 exhibitions in Finland, Lithuania, Belgium (at the European Parliament), Italy, the UK, the USA, Israel, Russia, Estonia and other countries, including 15 personal shows. Many of her works belong to leading museums, public and cultural institutions, as well as notable private collections world-wide. She is actively exhibits all over the world, including Hungary, Italy, Spain, the UK, Greece, Switzerland, the USA, South Korea, and other countries.
Inna’s works belong and displayed at Permanent Art Collections of The European Parliament, Brussels, Belgium; Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland; Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Austria; the Seimas ( Parliament) of Lithuania; Vilnius Public Jewish Library , Lithuania; Grigory Kanovich Public Library, Jonava, Lithuania; the Museum of The Italian National Institute of Health, Rome, Italy; the Museum of Academic Philharmonic, St Petersburg, Russia; Municipality of the City of Jerusalem, Israel; Arts Council of Latvia; Moikonen Rehabilitation Centre for Oncological Patients, Turku, Finland; HaRambam Hospital & Medical Centre, Haifa, Israel; Children Hospital, the University of Turku, Finland; Ghetto and Holocaust in Latvia Museum, Riga, Latvia; Museum of the History of Ukrainian People, Dnepr, Ukraine; and numerous notable private collections in the USA, the UK, Canada, Australia, France, Italy, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Israel, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, the Czech Republic, Russia, Ukraine , Mexico, and the other countries.
From 2017 onward, Inna works as original artist exclusively working in elaborated by herself her signature art techniques. She has been invited artist for a number of European and international exhibitions, including many solo exhibitions. Many of these exhibitions displayed Inna’s special projects from her Outreach to Humanity series and concept, including such internationally acclaimed projects as Shining Souls. Champions of Humanity ( from 2017 onward, in many of its international editions), Italian series ( Venice, Florence, Rome), her special series on homages to van Gogh, Magritte, French Impressionists, and Horizon Beyond Horizon: Celebration of Talent project.
The range of Inna’s interests regarding the themes and subjects of her works is rather wide, from modern interpretation of Japanese cultural and visual traditions to examination of Italian beauty in its cultural tradition; from an original interpretation of studies of nature to artistic reflections on music, poetry, ballet and other arts; from abstract philosophical statements to metaphorical interpretation of history.
Inna Rogatchi’s own original art is based on long cultural traditions of our civilisation which she knows well as active scholar, lecturer, writer and art curator. The ideals of active, applied humanism and humanity is essentially important for the artist who believes that real art is the tool of humanity, first and foremost of all.
Inna is the author of the concept and the creator of special Abstract Visions in Blue & Yellow art collection of over 50 works created in support of the people of Ukraine ( 2022-2023), as a travelling international charitable project. Her other collection of original artworks dedicated to the tragedies caused by the Mean War ( C) against Ukraine Tragedy in Portraits is part of Inna Rogatchi’s special program in support of Ukraine.
As an artist and philanthropist, together with her artist husband Michael Rogatchi and their international partners in Finland, Europe, the UK, the USA, Canada and Australia, from the day one of the war Inna has initiated, co-organised and carried on about 20 special art charitable campaigns in support of Ukraine, providing concrete and direct help to the elderly, children, sick people, those in need and general public in eight different cities of Ukraine. This work continues.
Inna is finalist of the V Edition of the London Art Biennale ( 2021), Peru Design Biennale ( 2021) and twice laureate of the prestigious Il Volo di Pegaso Italian National Arts & Literature Award ( 2017-2018 and 2018-2019). She has been selected several times among Top Ten and Top Twenty Artists for special bi-annual Photographic Visions Editions ( Winter 2022, Summer 2022 and Winter 2023) important international rating exhibitions according to the prestigious European PH21 Gallery & Art Photography Centre ( Budapest-Barcelona-Rome). In 2021-2022, Inna was also recognised by the leading Thomson Art Gallery ( Zurich) with Art Representation Prize for 2022. Inna was several times selected among Top 30 Artists according to the Bruxelles Vue Art Foundation in Belgium, and her works has received a Honorary Mentions at the important international curated exhibitions, as well.
Together with her husband Michael Rogatchi, Inna is recipient of the New York Children’s Museum Award for Outstanding Contribution into the Arts & Culture ( 2013). The Museum is the largest Children’s Museum in the USA.
The leading Pure Arts Group UK fine art association has produced a special televised program with Inna Rogatchi discussing her artistic vision and approach with the artist, within the frame of their well-known Pure Arts UK 360C Third Edition International Art festival.
Inna is interested to create her artworks in her special art techniques. She is the author of Inna Rogatchi Lux Sei Art ©, a particular direction of visual art that provides psychological comfort. Her works in that genre have been successfully applied in medical, social, public establishments and institutions of Finland, UK, Japan, Israel, and Spain, where the Spanish National Cancer Association has selected it for application in psychological treatment of cancer patients. Her collections of the art created in this special direction belong to the Permanent Art Collections of many institutions in Finland, the UK, Israel, and the USA.
Inna is also the author of her signature artistic techniques, Inna Rogatchi Art Metallica (R) of hand-applied gold, silver and other precious and semi-precious metals on her original artworks; and Inna Rogatchi Double Volume Art (R) of original drawings in various mediums, such as watercolour, wax, oil and lapice pastels, Neopastel, Chinese red paste, crayons Luminance, and hand-applied pigments of precious metals on her authored original archival prints on cotton fine art museum paper. The artworks in that unusual technique has been successfully and received wide critical acclaim at the festivals of contemporary arts in Rome, London, and Helsinki.
The list of Inna’s exhibition can be seen here.
Inna’s works are represented by a well-known high-end European art platform AMA ART, as well as by the leading ArtBox Art Consultants, Switzerland, and Pure Arts Group ( the UK). Previously, Inna’s work was also presented by Kirsten Keagli Art Consultants ( Zurich) and Kooness Art Consults ( Milan).
Inna works also in other directions of the visual arts, notably creating musical video-essays and short films based on her and her husband’s art series. Many of Inna’s short films have been acquired by the leading art museums and art libraries in Europe, USA, and world-wide. Among her special genres for this direction is photo- and video-essay based on her scholar extensive research, in which she exams the inter-connection between culture, history and mentality.
Inna was a special guest artist with several projects for the European Parliament including Shining Souls. Champions Of Humanity in memory of Elie Wiesel and in commemoration of The International Holocaust Remembrance Day ( 2017) and The Route at the European Parliament (2012). She was the only invited guest-artist at the commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the restoration of the famous Campanilla at St Marc Square in Venice, as well as at a special exhibition of her Amarcord Forever, Homage to Italian Cinema project in conjunction with the 69th Venice Film Festival. She has hold two special exhibitions as the invited guest-artist at the VII International Musical Collection Festival in the St Petersburg Academic Philharmonic, as well as at the Opening of the Vilnius Public Jewish Library which hosts the special art collection commissioned to Inna Rogatchi.
Shining Souls. Champions of Humanity in its Helsinki Edition has been also exhibited as a special memorial art project at the Parliament of Finland in Helsinki ( 2018). The project is invited to participate in many exhibitions in various European capitals, and it is planned the US tour of it.
As an art curator, Inna has curated many unique projects, such as The Life of Two of Us and Melody for Two exhibition of the two art series by Michael Rogatchi at the Palazzo Jacometti in Florence, Italy, a 10-month exhibition that has been included by the Florence art authorities in the city’s ‘art package’ alongside with the exhibition of Botticelli‘s work (2010-2011); The Auschwitz Album Re-Visited exhibition of 40 works of art by Pat Mercer Hutchens(USA), the first ever exhibition in Eastern Europe of the dramatic collection of the famed American artist, as the main event of the commemoration of the International Holocaust and Remembrance Day 2014, Jewish People Memory and Holocaust in Ukraine Museum, Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine; Jewish Melody exhibition of original art work series by Michael Rogatchi in Vilnius (at the Vilnius Public Jewish Library) and Tallinn (at the Tallinn Synagogue and Culture Centre), 2013-2014. The project in Vilnius was part of the commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the extermination of the Vilnius Ghetto and part of the official programme of the IV World Litvak Congress. The project in Tallinn commemorates the Day of Jerusalem and the 7th anniversary of the building of the Tallinn Synagogue.
Among Inna’s international recognitions, she was the first woman and the third person to be awarded with The Patmos Solidarity Award for ‘the hard labour of memory’ ( 2014); In 2013 she was awarded by The New York Jewish Children’s Museum International Award for Outstanding Contribution in Arts and Culture, alongside the outstanding musician Evgeny Kissin and her husband Michael Rogatchi. In 2015, Inna Rogatchi was awarded with a Special Diploma on her International Contribution into the Holocaust Education by the Chicago Film Festival and the Illinois Holocaust Memorial Museum. In 2016-2017, and 2017-2018, she won the Italian National Il Volo di Pegaso Award for Arts, Literature and Music in Fine Art Photography category. In 2021-2022, Inna was recognised among Top Ten Artists by the prestigious PH21 Gallery & Art Photography Centre ( Budapest-Barcelona-Rome). She also was recognised with Art Representation Distinction by the Thomson Gallery ( Zurich) , within the important Thomson ArtPrize 2021-2022.