Things to remember

In the painting series «Things to remember», the material for the work are images of real objects or subjects from 10 Ukrainian refugees who evacuated during a full-scale military invasion. These are things that have an intangible value for them and a memorable emotional connection with their homeland.

Things to remember are about thinking, searching and practicing. Quoting Anna Harendt «Memory is not only what we remember, but also what we forget and what we can recall after a long time.» The practice of associating some memories with certain objects or discovering these associations was at the beginning of this project. Why do you have this item, and what is its value to you? In my works I usually work with found images or images from my personal archive, but  in this project, I worked with pictures sent to me by participants. They were asked to show a thing that was taken in memory of the homeland.

I think about the things that became part of the project as about silent witnesses or evidence- the strange things of people who were forced to leave their homes. Because of the attention and importance they carry, they lose their owners and start living a new life. It is like a complex still life that was not assembled into one composition, and each object receives separate attention to itself. The image is part of the context, the choice is partial but not neutral. Each object is both kind and evil at the same time - because the concept of the homeland and the experience it carries with it is different for each owner.

The image went through some search and changes, until the necessary plastic form was found. The painted works are not copies, it is rather a reflection in water. Just the same as memory does not remain static, the form of an object changes or generalizes during a pictorial search. And even when it is held by an object, it vibrates and changes in the owner’s imagination.

the project was implemented with the support of the Bundesministerium für Kunst, Kultur, öffentlichen Dienst und Sport . Austria Vienna