Voices in Kyiv

Size: 60 x 160 cm


During the 2014 citizen protests in Kiev's Maidan Square, poets and artists took to the public square to defend their Ukrainian identity. I therefore built my project in Kiev in collaboration with Ukrainian writers, surveying the city under their guidance and following the inspiration of their writings. Together, we walked through the streets of Kiev, exploring the scars of war, the traces of fighting, the monuments dedicated to the dead and all the places where life is returning to normal. Although images of the war remain ingrained in the national memory and are resurfacing today, the crowds moving through the city are a symbol of hope in response to the tragic events. And the people are both custodians of the memory of war and witnesses to their own rebirth. Voices in Kyiv was exhibited at the Taras Shevchenko National Museum in Kyiv in 2018 (multimedia installation).
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My hometown has never lied to me.
It always repaid me with kindness, responded to my sorrow with sympathy, to my fatigue - with the promise of cheerfulness.

I got used to my silent dialogue with Kyiv, I feel its mood, its heartbeat. And when I am asked to show Kyiv to somebody who does not know the city, I take the newcomer to the streets which have a special meaning in my everyday life. They are numerous, these streets, but it is possible to show them in one or two days. But you should not walk fast on these streets.
In general, one should not walk fast in the city - it does not like it.

The man who walks fast sees nothing but the street.

We walked slowly through the city with Catherine Gfeller.
We walked and talked.
She was listening to me but watching the city, as it was Kyiv speaking to her and not me.

The truth is that it really was Kyiv speaking to her, though by means of my voice and perception.
Still, she saw a different Kyiv, hers. And her Kyiv, heard, seen, reproduced in the photographs and texts, tells me new stories about myself, makes me smile and think. Everyone has their own way of seeing things: careful or casual, perceptive or superficial. Catherine Gfeller has a multidimensional vision, she tells the city she sees and hears as something bigger than just a city, as a special world that can only be entered through the front door, the key to which is in Catherine's hand.


Andrei Kurkov
Kiyv, 2017