Painful Images: Ukraine 1993, 2014, and 2022

Ukrainian art, from the economic and political transformation of the 1990s through the events of 2014 (Crimea’s annexation and war in Donbas) to the Russian Federation’s full-scale invasion in 2022, has been haunted in various ways by the question of trauma and loss. At the same time, however, the p...

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Main Author: Tomasz Szerszeń
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2023-12-01
Series:Arts
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0752/13/1/8
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author Tomasz Szerszeń
author_facet Tomasz Szerszeń
author_sort Tomasz Szerszeń
collection DOAJ
description Ukrainian art, from the economic and political transformation of the 1990s through the events of 2014 (Crimea’s annexation and war in Donbas) to the Russian Federation’s full-scale invasion in 2022, has been haunted in various ways by the question of trauma and loss. At the same time, however, the problem of trauma is not just a problem of war or conflict but is somehow inscribed in post-Soviet space. Photography has a special role to play here, as a medium constantly oscillating between visible and invisible and between presence and absence. Since traumatic images transform and question the medium, a discussion about trauma becomes a discussion about the image itself. This article analyses selected projects by Ukrainian artists in various disciplines made in three chronological moments: the first half of the 1990s, after 2014, and now, in response to the ongoing war. Each project touches in different ways on the issue of trauma and the traumatic view while also touching the broader level of relationships between affects, vision, and history.
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spelling doaj.art-4b4bb077c10b47d198a0a49dc0d6b5032024-02-23T15:06:51ZengMDPI AGArts2076-07522023-12-01131810.3390/arts13010008Painful Images: Ukraine 1993, 2014, and 2022Tomasz Szerszeń0Institute of Art of the Polish Academy of Sciences, 00-238 Warszawa, PolandUkrainian art, from the economic and political transformation of the 1990s through the events of 2014 (Crimea’s annexation and war in Donbas) to the Russian Federation’s full-scale invasion in 2022, has been haunted in various ways by the question of trauma and loss. At the same time, however, the problem of trauma is not just a problem of war or conflict but is somehow inscribed in post-Soviet space. Photography has a special role to play here, as a medium constantly oscillating between visible and invisible and between presence and absence. Since traumatic images transform and question the medium, a discussion about trauma becomes a discussion about the image itself. This article analyses selected projects by Ukrainian artists in various disciplines made in three chronological moments: the first half of the 1990s, after 2014, and now, in response to the ongoing war. Each project touches in different ways on the issue of trauma and the traumatic view while also touching the broader level of relationships between affects, vision, and history.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0752/13/1/8wartraumaUkrainian artDonbassufferingphotography
spellingShingle Tomasz Szerszeń
Painful Images: Ukraine 1993, 2014, and 2022
Arts
war
trauma
Ukrainian art
Donbas
suffering
photography
title Painful Images: Ukraine 1993, 2014, and 2022
title_full Painful Images: Ukraine 1993, 2014, and 2022
title_fullStr Painful Images: Ukraine 1993, 2014, and 2022
title_full_unstemmed Painful Images: Ukraine 1993, 2014, and 2022
title_short Painful Images: Ukraine 1993, 2014, and 2022
title_sort painful images ukraine 1993 2014 and 2022
topic war
trauma
Ukrainian art
Donbas
suffering
photography
url https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0752/13/1/8
work_keys_str_mv AT tomaszszerszen painfulimagesukraine19932014and2022