Spring

The series “Spring” is my visual diary, which I started shortly before Russia’s full-scale invasion in Ukraine in late February 2022. I decided to turn to subjective documentation of historical events back in the spring of 2014 in connection with the annexation of Crimea, where I lived at that moment. Back then, this practice helped me not only to record my personal experiences but also to bring the conversation about politics into the public area through street art. Eight years later, I turned to this method again in order to weave my personal testimony into the fabric of memory for further working with the overall trauma of witnessing. Being in the Netherlands, far away from the conflict, makes it possible to show the point of view of the observer, which constantly switches from views of war to views of peaceful life and back again. So the springtime birdsong and the air-raid alarm form the music of reality.

The «Spring» series of works continues the tradition of anti-war statements, started by female artists in the early 20th century. Ukrainian artist Maria Sinyakova, German artist Käthe Kollwitz, and Russian artists Natalia Goncharova and Olga Rozanova used the language of art to speak of the horrors of World War I in their works. These mystical images of the war, as well as live event photographs and eyewitness accounts penetrated immediately into the subconscious of the viewers, triggering the process of reflection and elaboration. Today’s war is broadcasted and accessible to any viewer all over the world. The multitude of testimonies settles into the nightmares even of those people who are far away from the frontline and can be passed on from generation to generation. My series of works is the same journey into the world of the subconscious, where everyday images of tragedy with photos and videos from the news and social media, are intertwined with feelings triggered by memories, emotions, and conversations with relatives or friends. Any diary is the keeper of the author’s subjective memory, but for the reader, it can become a mirror where it is possible to recognize one’s feelings and anxieties. My artworks create a space of memory about war, where there are not only losses but also human lives. This space speaks in the universal language of metaphor and symbol, which engages the viewer in a process of storytelling, where the author’s point of view is only one of the possible reality interpretations.