Of Bread and Salt Audio Recordings
Exhibited in 2024 at Gallery 4Culture in Seattle, WA, Хліб-сіль: Of Bread and Salt is a series of portrait series of eight Ukrainian families who immigrated to Seattle as a result of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The paintings are based on recorded interviews. Each conversation began with questions about the participants’ homes and the experience of leaving. During the exhibition, a recording played giving voice to the paintings. Moving between Ukrainian, Russian and English, the voices of the sitters recounted the individual experience of displacement, weaving together a collective narrative.
Below, navigate to individual stories and choose between original recordings or English translations
IRYNA AND YEVHENIIA
...мы взяли все, что получилось бросить в чемодан. И в принципе, это вещи, которые ничего не значат. Какие-то вещи, какая-то одежда, которых они просто попались первые.”
“…we took whatever we could throw in a suitcase. And it's just stuff that doesn't mean anything. Some things, some clothes that happened to be the first ones I grabbed.
-Iryna