Liturgy

Ink on cardboard, text, 2017

«God is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for with him all are alive» (Luke 20:38)

We exist outside of time – in the past, present and future. We live inseparable from the memory – of those who are no longer among us, preparing the space for those who will come after. Generation feeds the generation. A living memory of the dead, the idea of their transcendental presence in every moment of our lives is the way to combat what we fear most – to go nowhere. The memory of the dead, the memory of the ancestors is history. It is like an endless canvas, which is trailing simultaneously from different ends – yesterday, today and tomorrow – from the threads of the departed, the living and those who have not lived, giving us faith in our own immortality. The fabric of being – of family, city, people, humanity.

The cemetery «Yatsevo» in Chernihiv (north of Ukraine) – the largest in the city – has more than 100 thousand burials on its territory. This is a third of the actual population of Chernihiv. A huge city of the dead, existing side by side with the city of the living. The place of the frozen history, where the fabric of her canvas has already become cornificated, and the threads are tightly interlocked. Reread on gravestones – means a stitch by stitch going through his story. To mention those who have passed, calling them by name, means to return them to life, to restore them in the flesh. What has been named – becomes alive. In my project, I penetrate into the fabric of the history of the city from the past, weaving it from the names of thousands of ancestors of the present inhabitants. I suggest to the viewer to read everything because of another, to go through the fabric from the very base. To revive and remember – calling by name. As a priest remembers those who have passed at the Liturgy, reading on the church notes for the repose, thereby preserving their corporeality, their presence, not letting the memory of them disappear, without letting the fabric of history be unraveled – beyond time, past, present and future.

Project implemented during the residency «Ex.plain air» in Chernihiv (Ukraine) in 2017.