Françóise Oz is a Ukrainian artist. She was born in 1988 in Odésa, where she studied and lives now. A very bright and energetic personality, she actively develops Odesa’s cultural presence. She works in a creative tandem with Bohdán Perevertún. Exploring the aesthetics of conceptual art, they developed a well-recognizable authors’ style, which is based on minimalism, monochrome, texts and, sometimes, the use of decorative chains in paintings. The visual language of the creative tandem of Françoise and Bohdan is filled with coded symbols. The authors’ work has gradually moved from social to personal themes and now reveals the themes of support, understanding, and love.

The work “Sell Homeland at a Price!” was created in 2014. On a large white canvas, four figures are depicted in black, almost graphically, in a line. They all have the same height, similar physique and appearance, but they differ only in type of clothing. The first figure is dressed in the typical uniform of a 3rd-year naval academy cadet. His posture is static and alert at the same time, his right hand is on his waist. The second figure is dressed in a captain’s overcoat and a hat with ears, the third – in a camouflage suit, shoes, and a hat with the edges turned up. The fourth figure is also in a captain’s overcoat and a cap. All have jewellery on their necks – chains made of cheap yellow metal.

The picture was created after Russia had annexed the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. Françóise Oz actively demonstrated her patriotic position; all her works were acutely social and relevant to events in the country. The author raises the topic of traitors among her own people, who sided with the occupiers and contributed to hostile activities on the territory of the Motherland, selling it for cheap handouts. Although a lot of time has passed since the creation of the work, it remains relevant to this day and acquires more and more greater and wider meanings.