Occupied identity
April 2023
Projection on acrylic glass and textile
The 32-year-old ceremonial wedding towel (ruschnyk) is the oldest item in my family. My parents gave it to me and my ex-partner at our wedding in 2015. It was a gift from my grandmother to my parents at their wedding in 1991. The ruschnyk is decorated with traditional Ukrainian embroidery. It is part of the Ukrainian tradition to greet a newly married couple with some bread and salt (served on top of ruschnyk).
Scanned photographs of my childhood are projected onto the ruschnyk. They show me, my younger brother, my older cousin, my parents, my grandmother. The photos were taken in different parts of the Donetsk region, which is now occupied by the Russians. Some areas have been turned into mass graves. The original photos are with my parents, who are still living under the occupation.
Similar to how the occupied territory of Ukraine is marked in red on maps, or how pictures are sometimes blurred to hide the location of a missile strike, the Russian war leaves its mark on my family's memories. I simply cannot show these photos as they are, because it puts my family in danger.
According to the American historian John R. Gillis, the idea of identity depends on the idea of memory, and vice versa. Ukrainian researcher Oksana Kis comments on Gillis's work: "Not only is identity rooted in memory (a shared historical past is a factor in identifying with a particular group), but what and how we remember depends on the identity we choose (who we think we are)."
Since 2014, Russia has taken away the freedom and security of my family. But after 9 years of living under the occupier, my mother says she would like to switch to the Ukrainian language and they are still waiting for Ukraine to come. Despite all the genocidal efforts, Russians cannot erase our identity, no matter how hard they try.
Centuries of Russian imperialism are the reason why the oldest object in my family is as old as the independence of Ukraine. During the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union, our past was severely erased. This work is an attempt to create a visual link between the oldest and the most recent memories.
