We are the community of artists from Kherson. Artist who, in different times and different formats, were united by Center of cultural development “Totem”.

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We are our shared culture and heritage, our collective and personal memories.

We are the bearers of memories, which are not equal to nostalgia.

We are the litmus tests of changes which already happened.

We are eyes, which are trying to see the future through the window of new opportunities.

 

Artists presented in this catalog are from Kherson. A town, which found itself on the front pages of the world media because of its powerful resistance to the Russian occupation. However, the occupation, which lasted for 8 months, left deep scars. Our usual landscape has changed, which means not only the destroyed cities and villages, burned fields and forests, the ecocide of the Dnipro delta after the explosion of the Kakhovka HPP; our cultural landscape has changed painfully and drastically. Most of the artists were forced to leave their native city. Some lived in the occupation longer, others - less. Now the artists of our creative community are in different parts of Ukraine and different countries of the world.

 

We faced new life conditions, new communities, and new challenges. Is there anything left to unite us beyond geography of origin, memories of peaceful times, and experiences of occupation and migration? Something other than the fact, that by our mere presence in other people’s reality, we a priori change the cultural landscape of their cities and countries.

 

"Another landscape" is about the shared feeling of seeing "different view" outside the window. It is about the landscapes of other cities and countries, which are beautiful, but cannot make us happy because of our mental and emotional ties to the war-torn landscapes of Ukraine. Internal landscape is superimposed on the real one, thereby changing our perception. When people return from Europe to the de-occupied territories of Ukraine, they have the same feeling of superimposed realities, but in reverse (distorted reality in front of their eyes and pretty pictures of peaceful landscapes in their memories).

 

The project "Another landscape" transforms the collective and personal experience of Kherson artists into an artistic expression, which is necessary for the realization and acceptance of seemingly simple ideas: in order to return, one must be prepared to face the fact, that it will be difficult to recognize one's land. In order to live on, one must learn not only to perceive a new (traumatized) landscape, but to create a new one. 

 

Thus, "Another Landscape" is about finding one’s place and new meanings. It would seem that everything is as usual for an art project. However, it’s not quite so. After all, this now applies not only to the people of Kherson, but to millions of Ukrainians, who now see a different reality outside their window. It applies to the communities which accepted us, thereby agreeing to expand the framework of their cultural identity.

 

"Another" does not equal "worse".

"Another" does not equal "better".

Another is just different.