Caring for the Light:
The Time We Have, The Time We Are, The Memory We Hold
By: Tetiana Bohuslavska
To increase the visibility of non-White / non-Catholic contributions to Polish culture and heritage, TTTM’s National Heritage and Traumatic Memory cluster offers an annual minority artist’s residency at Polin Museum in Warsaw, co-sponsored by Partner Organizations FestivALT and Teatr Powszechny. We have added a special additional residency in Fall/Winter 2022 for a Ukrainian artist in order to recognize the needs and experiences of Ukrainians during Russia’s war in Ukraine. For this position, we're pleased to host Tetiana Bohuslavska, who worked with themes of trauma and memory to create interactive artworks in relation to the current war in Ukraine.
Introduction
Getting acquainted with the Museum, its departments, collections, large-scale projects and the core exhibition turned out to be a special experience that can be characterized as temporal, and I single out/distinguish the following components.
The return of the sense of time, its longevity, duration. An overview of the core exhibition dedicated to the 1000-year history of Polish Jews, focusing on the history of another nation that has gone through many tragedies, making comparisons with Ukrainian history, the way the two histories intersect, provides an opportunity for keeping a certain distance. For me (as well as for many others), time seems to have stopped with the start of a full-scale war, and distancing yourself in order to be able to reflect on what is happening and express it by the means of art seems extremely complicated.
Thanks to the curatorial work and immersive technologies of the core exhibition, which encourage the viewers to deepen their knowledge, from time to time you lose the sense of your own age, you turn into a child who discovers new things for themselves. This is an important experience, which also brings back the awareness that we are the time itself, and combine the past, present and future.
The incredible work of the Museum employees and departments to preserve memory, both tangible and intangible, open access to a huge database of video interviews, testimonies and information, the trust of people and their contributions to the Museum collection—all this is a living organism of memory and culture which doesn’t stop to amaze us, and restores confidence in the victory of light and life over the machinery of death.
Last but not least, the impression of Rainer Mahlamäki's architectural design, which combines external austerity with an expression of vitality, will and freedom, together with a symbolic bridge of memory connecting the two parts of the Museum. That is why the works that presented at POLIN Museum have been inspired directly by the exploration and interaction with the Museum space and its features, they grew from a dialogue with this space – truly meaningful and interconnected.
I single out three locations that have been chosen for the creation of my works, respectively, and their thematic titles-codes - 'The Time We Have', 'The Time We Are', 'The Memory We Hold'.
'Caring for the Light' is the title that brings together all the three works for me. Ukraine is currently going through a very difficult winter period—Russia continues to kill civilians and destroy the energy system, all the services are constantly working to restore it, people are left with no heat, electricity or water in the middle of winter. Therefore, this title encapsulates both literal and symbolic meanings - we should care for the light, we have to preserve it in ourselves despite everything, this is a great responsibility and task.
Part 1: The Time We Have
The work created in a glass cube, turned into a space for reflecting on time, on the consequences of the war and on dialogue. The cube has access to air, and it is cold and windy at such a time of the year, which corresponds to the extreme conditions in which people find themselves during the Russian attacks. Thus, the coats for visitors are part of this installation.
It is a place where several layers of time intersect. The images and texts on the left wall refer to the past five months (July-November) when I was staying in Kyiv during the full-scale war, on the right wall - a month (December) in Warsaw. On the table are texts by Deborah Vogel, Zygmunt Bauman, 1930 and 2011 respectively, with which I am in a kind of polemic.
Ultimately, I want to create a space where people can talk about what's important, about their experience of the war, and all this can only serve as a point of departure of sorts, a point of trust and openness. There is often silence, a feeling of not being able to talk about the traumatic experience, but it should be done, when possible. Therefore, the title of the work is open – “The Time We Have” - for help, support, communication, comparison.
Part 2: The Time We Are
'The Time We Are' is a site-specific installation, the implementation of which is largely inspired by the Museum space. In the book titled Liquid Times: Living in an Age of Uncertainty Zygmunt Bauman wrote ‘On a negatively globalized planet, all the most fundamental problems - the meta-problems conditioning the fighting of all other problems - are global, and being global they admit of no local solutions. (…) No longer can democracy and freedom be fully and truly secure in one country, or even in a group of countries; their defense in a world saturated with injustice and inhabited by billions of humans denied human dignity will inevitably corrupt the very values they are meant to defend.’’ This installation includes two parts/works and relate to the global crises and challenges.
In the first part, which has a watery texture and seems to pass through the columns, are encrypted layered meanings. Form of the work resembles a pipe and as such touches on the topic of resources, dependence and political manipulation through it. Quoting Wisława Szymborska - "To acquire political meaning you don’t even have to be human. Raw material will do, or protein feed, or crude oil" (from the poem "Children of the Epoch").
Since the Revolution of Dignity, there is a very common slogan/saying in Ukraine: “You are a drop in the ocean”. This means that every person has influence, weight, importance. Therefore, this is a work about will, freedom, choice, and responsibility to create history as well.
The second part of this installation - short messages made from the sand, in which I put several layers of meaning. 'I'm safe, thank you.' This is probably the most common thing that Ukrainians wrote and/or said to one another last year. This is also my personal message to the Museum and the people who created this special residency program. But it is also related to global crises, human catastrophes and fragile safety, which existing world institutions and conventions cannot guarantee.
Part 3: The Memory We Keep
'The Memory We Keep' is dedicated to the memory of Ukrainians who died as a result of the Russian attacks. The number of losses that we already have is incredible. The installation is complemented by civilian casualty updates by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). This installation is an attempt to accept this traumatic reality, to express love and to commemorate. Below the plants is a line of the black images - these are my photos from blackouts that started in mid-October, when serious attacks on the energy system took place. This means that at this particular time people are being injured or killed.
