Washed Away
Analog prints, scratching by stain bleach / 2024
By using a stain-bleach, I created the contour shapes of animals of the Tuva. I aim to emphasise that its unique nature and biodiversity was washed away by the brutal industrial exploitation. Such colonial politics towards both local people and environment define the centuries-lasting ambitions of the russian empire “to divert the rivers” and destroy everything that stands in this way. Primitive style, reminiscent of the cave carvings, sends viewers to the ancient way of living — honouring nature and collaborating with it.
As a Ukrainian, I wish Tuvans could regain their political agency and sovereignty in the near future. So we could join forces in protecting the remaining natural sources and reclaiming the cultural heritage.
Tuva is a remote country of southern Siberia, currently part of the russian federation. The Tuvans are a Turkic ethnic group, which combines Tibetan Buddhism, and the animistic shamanism. The connection between humans and nature played a crucial role in traditional Tuvan culture, where people firmly believed that by harming nature they harmed themselves. For this reason, they never cut down trees unnecessarily, did not kill animals, and did not catch more fish than they needed. Moreover, before taking something from nature, traditionally Tuvans would ask permission to do so, performing various rituals.
In 1944, the USSR annexed Tuva explaining it as for the sake of a possible war against Japan. They killed most of the local shamans, and turned the region into industrial: built three giant hydroelectric power plants, and a forestry complex, thus destroying nature and interfering in animals' environment. Tuvans, having a great self-sufficient culture, became enslaved people of the russian federation, while Tuva, once a rich natural habitat, turned into one of its economically poorest regions. Continuing the contemporary contrast with the unique history of Tuva, it is also a region where many young men are sent from to the war in Ukraine, it is the motherland of russian military officer Serhiy Shoigu, and the place where Putin likes to fish with naked torso.