Like a stain on the carpet
Analog photography, double exposure technique, film soup process / 30x40 cm / 2022

What is it like to feel like a stain on the carpet, an unwanted spot on the world map that the russians want to erase from the face of the Earth?

Being paralysed and impressed by the Bucha massacre event and all the horrible things that the Russian army did to my native land, I created a series of photographs applying the double exposure technique: one film layer consisted of the maps of the Ukrainian cities destroyed by russians, while the second layer consisted of my naked, fragile body.

Before developing, I soaked the film in stain bleach for carpet washing, and it destroyed part of the images.

Comparing the feelings of being a Ukrainian these days, with a stain that is trying to be removed from the surface, I outline Russia’s aspiration to erase Ukraine from the world’s map, to destroy the very idea of Ukraine and its identity as if we never existed.

The series was presented within the «Tomorrow» exhibition in Artisterium, Tbilisi, Georgia.