Collaboration with Nadiya Petrovska
Concrete, glass, plastic, acrylic, liquid.
Size: 12 x 13 x15 cm
Concrete shelters, called "Safeplace," have been installed in Ukrainian front-line cities to protect civilians from Russian bombs and artillery, a practice adopted from Israel. In Kherson, they are often found near food stores and public transport stops. The largest and most reliable of these shelters, however, is the state border with EU countries.
Yet, many light years and kilometers away from the frontline, a peaceful citizen with bills to pay or living space to share with loved ones has their own “alerts” and their own "shelters." It could be food, alcohol, drugs, entertainment, depression, work, or caring for loved ones. Right now, you are holding one of the most effective shelters from anxiety in your hands.
But, if the war teaches us anything, it is that both in wartime and peacetime, a shelter does not solve the problem. It only creates the illusion that you can continue to live with it.
Series concept
The gift that no one would want to receive.
No one in their right mind would ever want this gift. Yet, fate and our nervous systems grant it to us, leaving us with no other choice. War is a profound trauma. While the conflict will eventually end, the triggers—certain objects, sounds, and places—will repeatedly pull us back into the raw feelings and states we once experienced. These memories settle at the bottom of our psyche like a heavy block of concrete, lying dormant as long as they are connected to intense negative emotions. We cannot move forward until we have reconsidered these events and understood how they have reshaped our personalities and values for the better. Only then can these memories be transformed into the foundational blocks of the person we are yet to become. Triggers cannot be escaped; they must be confronted and discharged so they are not inherited by our children.