A tour of Ukraine of the art Project MARIA dedicated to the 90th anniversary of Holodomor started in Vinnytsya last week.
The project – a mobile and interactive space that memorializes Holodomor victims – is a collection of artworks by Ukrainian Canadian artist Lesia Marushchak. It is named after Maria F. from the Vinnytsya region, a Holodomor survivor who is now 99 and lives in Canada. The image of Maria embodies the memory of millions of people, her story being a compilation of many reminiscences.
According to the artist, she thought it was critically important to “avoid the monolithic language and form of traditional memorials, but instead create an abstract space that would confront the viewer with the collective memory of the loss.” She also says the ongoing war against Ukraine weaponizes the same tools as Russia normalized during and after Holodomor: disinformation, denial and concealment.
The Project MARIA is sponsored by the Ukrainian World Congress.
