They Die and I Remain Alive
An installation in which bodies surround a square of earth, marking the boundaries of a territory. The work questions the social expectations placed on the soldier and the relationship between individual life, collective identity and sacrifice.
About the project
Written in the context of the war in 2015, the project examines the conflict between individual freedom, national consciousness and the demand for collective unity. It asks how traumatic experience reorganises the present and the future, and how the need for defence can coexist with an increasingly narrow space for difference.
The curatorial text approaches the Hero as an image formed under wartime conditions, when the distinction between “us” and “the enemy” acquires exceptional force. The soldier becomes a focus for a society’s most valued aspirations, but also bears the consequences of decisions made in its name. Heroism and the expendability of a life remain in unresolved tension.
These questions extend into a critique of the failures of humanism and liberal ideals beyond Ukraine. The project does not resolve the contradiction between protection and violence. It asks what those outside the battlefield should struggle for, and whether overcoming brutality within ourselves can become part of that task.