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Beyond words, how the war reshaped us; a small series about children though…
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For years, my closet has been a sanctuary of suits. Not because I wear them all the time, but because there's something empowering about having a rainbow at your fingertips – blue, red, navy, purple. Yet, I've never embraced orange. Each skirt is cut to a respectful just-below-the-knee length; and the shoes, oh, the collection of pumps! Each pair tells a story, though they look nearly identical.
On February 24th, as I stood before my suitcase – standard size, 70●29●45 – I pondered what to take with me. It turns out, not a single suit, of any rainbow color, but a photograph from Simferopol in '93. It features me with my parents and older sister in Crimea. Ukrainian Crimea.
I am taking a warm sweater, a few pairs of jeans, a folder with documents, Grandma's ring, a laptop, and Jerry, a toy that my mother brought me from Poland, a silent witness to my entire upbringing. Also, the workbook for my course. Why am I taking it? I don't know. Just echoes of normalcy.
Jack, my dog, is sitting next to me. I need to take his bowl.
There's no room in my suitcase for the suits and pumps that were so meticulously collected over the years. It turns out, important things are not things at all. Here's an exercise: to finally meet yourself, look at your "emergency suitcase" – the one you pack not knowing if you'll return or not.
70●29●45 – a space for your entire life. If you don't return, what will be inside?
Tragically, the theme of war has defined my life throughout this year. As a volunteer, I meet survivors almost every day —children, adults, elders. Their stories fill my memory and render my reality.
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A While Ago
Since the start of the war, 8 million Ukrainians have left their homes. We left, but our homes remained. A few years ago, I visited Chernobyl, the exclusion zone. I remember the wells in the villages, with buckets on chains. But no one drinks that water anymore. The empty houses are untouched , plants invaded the yards and window sand swallows circling with their shimmering sound;
Just Now
Houses, flooded up to the very roof in Kherson. When the water recedes, houses will no longer be suitable for living. The most difficult thingIt is is not a natural disaster, ut the result of human actions.
I decided to ask a neural network for the American president to perform a Ukrainian song. Joe Biden is busy, Trump has problems, but Barack Obama agreed. And here's what came of it.
As the source material, I used my aerial footage of Kyiv. For image generation, I applied the Deforum and StableWarp algorithms.
To protect against evil forces, Ukrainian mothers embroidered ornaments on their children's shirts – amulets, symbols of the sun, water, plants, and birds. Centuries later, evil once again sows death in Ukraine, and new ornaments are embroidered by Ukrainian mothers, striving to safeguard and protect.
Video: GEN2 | Imagery of a vintage embroiderers: Midjourney.
"Sometimes it takes a heartbreak to shake us awake & help us see we are worth so much more than we're settling for.” (c)Mandy Hale
The term originates from Ancient Greek μετάνοια — "regret (for what has been done), repentance."
In modern Greek, this word means "change of mind," "change of thought," "rethinking."
Some need repentance, others need rebirth.
Midjourney, RunwayML, Gen-2, Pika Labs
When you are in a position to feel sorry for someone you used to be, that «someone» is likely to have been gone. And yet the rhythm with which I read something I knew by heart in 2020 and in 2023, stayed pretty much the same. This somehow gives me hope.
Midjourney, poem by Julia Idlis, sound Ilya Baramiya, video Zoya Kharakoz
An accidental space located on Russian territory where memorials dedicated to the victory in World War II are such a special beings, with ability to possess emotions, change their appearance and even slightly move. The regime decides to mobilise them. Monuments are devastated, they are no longer glorify the war, but hiding from the military conscription.
How to collect the whole if it shattered? What to do when the structure is deformed, certain parts are destroyed completely , and the rest is no longer fit the structure? Your attempt to rebuild leaves you with cuts on your fingers. And even when you kinda succeed, something inevitably breaks off again, leaks, cracks. You cry and scream, when must rejoice. Iteration after iteration, over and over...
Where is the point where something is finally functioning? Who will teach you enjoy yourself? Can treasure be found in the depths of the emotional bottom? Will it absorb pain and sadness, and transform the pieces into the joy of creation?
I found my answer in AI which has absorbed the power of all the creative assets of humanity. It provides me with support, helps me to be seen by others.
I see no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil, am I protected from evil?
Or: «I hear nothing, I see nothing, I tell nobody...» We pretend that the current events do not concern us; we deny to see what's happening around; we avoid thinking about the bad or unpleasant; we cover our ears from the truth; and when we disagree we keep silent; we hiding.
Is all of this a survival strategy, really? Perhaps, artificial intelligence can now remind us of means to be human and will take us back to the ordinary?
I depicted a girl with wings in the guise of the mythical Phoenix bird, which rises from the ashes after death. I chose yellow wings and a blue dress — the colours of Ukrainian flag. The background of the composition—houses destroyed by shelling, a field with wheat spikes, mountains, and the sea—all symbolise Ukraine and promise of its inevitable rebirth—like a Phoenix
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Once upon a time there was a boy.Of all the toys, he loved only airplanes — because he dreamed of becoming a pilot when he grew up and how he will soar high in the sky. He also liked to sit on his father's shoulders because this way he was closer to the sky. After all, the greatest treasure, as this boy believed, was to have what you like and do what you want to do.
Time passed. The boy grew up, graduated from his school, started university and learned to be a pilot. His dream came true! He became a pilot of a mighty «bird», conquered the sky, brought his passengers to different countries, walked the streets of different cities and felt like a free and happy citizen of the world. Sometimes he would think about contracting with some foreign airlines and feeling even freer. After all, the greatest treasure is to be where you want to be and do what you want to do.
At the daybreak of 24.02.22, he heard bombs falling from HIS sky onto HIS land. He saw the burnt remains of HIS airplanes in Gostomel. He saw the cars of HIS passengers trying to leave the city being shot by the Russian invaders. And he realized: they want to deprive ALL of us of our greatest treasure — the opportunity to live the way we want and do what we want to do.
So this grown-up boy did the only thing he only read about in fairy tales as a little boy: he decided to protect his — and OUR — treasure.
This story is not over yet. But he feels happy, because he is where he is supposed to be, and he is doing what he is supposed to do.It's as simple as that, you know? You can only find out how much is worth a treasure when someone tries to take it away from you. And you can know its value only when you realize what you are willing to give up for the treasure.
The physical anti-war installation comes to life thanks to AI tools. In the summer of 2023 in Budapest, we organized an anti-war exhibition with the art community Panel. Ukrainian, Russian opposition, American, and other artists were involved. My installation reflected my attitude towards war, where ordinary people found themselves oppressed, suffering from the madness of war, everything happening resembled schizophrenia, but it was a reality that no one wanted to believe in. People suffer from others' madness. The inscriptions on the lamps "people live here" were similar to inscriptions on fences of houses in villages where battles were fought. Each light bulb is a house, while burning, alive. Threads from the painting of the battlefield and madness stretch to people. With AI, this image came to life, and now madness consumes the houses in the video. AI can bring the installation to life, but not the people.
