Polina Kuznetsova
- What motivated you to take part in our project?
- The topic is very close to me, because my city is no longer safe and I no longer have a home. Now I live in a long journey, perhaps the most emotional in my life. I don’t know how ready I am at the moment to reveal all these experiences. But I feel that the theme of travel will figure in my work for a long time.
- How did the war in Ukraine affect you personally?
- It is difficult to say because the war is not over. I was in Kharkiv at the beginning of the war. I lived with friends and children in a bomb shelter until March 9th. My parents were in the most dangerous area of ​​the city and survived heavy shelling. We all leaved Kharkiv. My cozy world was totally destroyed. It has been 100 days since I can feel safe because there is no home anywhere. The endless terrifying evil that came to my land showed a lot of goodness that I meet in people who are ready to help me and my loved ones in this difficult times.
- Tell about your project partner. What is common between you? And what are the differences that make you complement each other?
- Last year Sven came to Kharkiv to meet the artists, to look at our community. I don't speak English, so we communicated with translator's help. This is not the easiest way of communication, but I realized that Sven deeply feels my artworks, understands what I paint about. Sven's music is filled with magic, as are my landscapes. Even before the war, I wanted to create a joint project.
- A few words about your joint work. Why did you decide to implement this idea?
- It seems to me that Sven and I are exchanging ideas that awaken in each of us some kind of personal individual creative process. Now I travel around Ukraine and shoot short videos on the phone from trains in order to convey to Sven my feelings from the road. Show him the faces of people who travel from their cities somewhere into the unknown or return to dangerous zones. Thanks to Sven's vision, I'm living my journey like a movie that fits well with his soundtracks.
- What would you like to wish the audience of the project?
- I think that my experience is not necessary for peaceful times. But at the same time, I want to do everything to warn people that war is a reality on our planet, and it is important to do everything to ensure that this phenomenon disappears and does not happen again.
- The first thing you will do when the war is over.
- I will go home and clean my house.
- What is the main message of your art work?I don't think much about the message. I just feel, reflect and express.
- It seems to me that what we are faced with the agony of the era of the substitution of concepts. Blurring the boundaries of black and white, loss of sincerity and truth. In contrast to this, it remains to start calling a spade a spade. Do not look for white in black. This is now very strongly felt in Ukraine.Sincerity and simplicity are my main positions in creativity.
