Maidan - Under Construction (2014)
The ‘Euromaidan’-demonstrations in Kyiv were spectacularly photogenic, with pictures of flames and smoke rising above Independence Square making front-page news around the world. Burning tyres, rubble and battered riot shields became key symbols of demonstrations that were scarred by the mass shooting of protesters by the government’s security apparatus. Outside Ukraine the protests were largely simplified to a pair of polar opposites. Inside Ukraine, however, the situation was more complex and disordered.
“I try to move beyond stereotypes, using the disordered barricades to symbolise the fractures in Ukrainian society and the nature of its protests.
These makeshift barricades have withstood the pressure. Now they stand as an disordered artefact of the opposition. The barricades look improvised, spontaneously thrown together from objects of all kinds. They are real and unreal at the same time. Disordered barricades are an important means of protection for the protesters. Without them, people would lose against the police. That’s why it is important to put the barricades in the spotlight. They are works of art that need to be photographed. The symbolism and the weapons of the civil rebellion are transformed from storm and disorder into something more make do and mend: this is the change of rule.”
