2024
2024
«to meet you»
Printed screenshots
Dimensions variable
2024
In this work, I use material from a project by Ukrainian journalists who interview captured Russian soldiers. I watched many of these interviews and took screenshots at the exact moments when the soldiers looked directly into the camera. Those screenshots were printed “life-sized” to create a feeling of natural presence. The placement of these images is also important to me. By varying the height at which the screenshots are placed, I tried not only to bring a sense of individuality — each human has their own dimensions, and height is one of them — but also, and perhaps even more importantly, to give each visitor the possibility to find eyes at their own level, to be “face-to-face” with these people, creating a sense of intimacy and deeper connection.
Since leaving St. Petersburg, I have reflected a lot on the topic of war, violence, actors, and victims — especially because I myself could have been one of them. Even though I am strongly against the regime and reject any form of violence or harm, I could potentially be drafted into the Russian army. And even though I am “lucky” to have had the opportunity to leave the country and stay abroad for now, I am still not fully safe — the risk still exists.
I ask myself: Why do such awful things happen? Who are the people who go to war? What motivates or forces them to go there? What is the role of the individual in these processes? And what is generally going on in their minds?
Of course, I cannot speak directly with the soldiers who have been there and fought there to get answers. So I am trying to find a form that simulates a “dialogue” between us. It is an attempt to understand and to “meet” them — and to give viewers the opportunity to have their own “dialogue” with these people, with the soldiers. The work also creates a kind of collective portrait of them and, by extension, a portrait of one facet of Russia.