Sparks is a multi-layer portrait of a contemporary war in Europe. The war in Ukraine is a paradoxical conflict juxtaposing scenes reminiscent of World War I such as trenches and the industrial landscapes of Donbass, with modern weapons, the technology and social media used by soldiers to document their personal impression of the war.
Portraits of young nonprofessional soldiers form the backbone of this project. They went to war in sneakers, with weapons stolen from a museum. They left behind them previous identities and occupations: mechanic, astronomer, DJ, bank assistant, philosopher, high school student… none were prepared for what they were to experience. The inspiration for the soldiers’ portraits in Sparks is the tradition of military portraiture. In the past, a soldier’s photo taken in a studio was often the first and the last of that person. Given to the mother, girlfriend or sister, the image was preserved as a relic and worshiped as the only representation of the person.
War, seen as a repetitive phenomenon, turns order upside down. It provokes a recurring distortion of behavior and always the same consequences. The sceneries in Sparks are places described by the soldiers: frontlines, trenches, mines, observation points, basements, ruined houses full of debris and emptiness, the aftermath of battles.
Inhabitants living near the frontline call missile shrapnel “sparks.” When they look up at the sky and see a hail of “sparks” approaching, they have no time to find shelter. The “sparks” mercilessly pierce the walls of their homes, in a downpour of death and fear.
Sparks explores the subject of human vulnerability and human condition in proximity to danger and traumatic experiences. In the video Portrait of a soldier, Volodya shares his story and thoughts about the time he spent in the war zone. The String shows a boy trying to string a bow, innocently undertaking a man’s duty.
Minds Directing is based on quotes from people who faced the fights. The videos aim to shift the viewers’ thoughts towards the witnesses’ experiences. Minds Directing is a dual, two-screen installation, where models play the symbolic roles of women and men in wartime, representing two facets of the same event. In the sequence How bad we are mortal, the sniper’s tactical scope laser overexposes the bodies, revealing the outline of bones and veins.
Wiktoria Wojciechowska delves into the subject intensely, with both theoretical research and the collection of little fragments and shreds of words she picks up along the way, her symbolic photos and pictures she found all interacting with one another. The first-hand documents are crossed with the artist's work to serve the subject, on an equal level of importance. Wiktoria Wojciechowska practices repetitive-meditative tasks. She handwrites the words of war witnesses on very fine and fragile paper and on the walls of her exhibitions. Using collage, she slowly covers with gold leaves those who died or have been wounded. The Golden Collages series is based on pictures taken by soldiers that they shared with the artist. Similarly, the noisy and immersive video Triptych was edited from Romek’s mobile phone recordings of the battles.
The Black Collages were conceived after seeing volunteers in a training camp in Ukraine fighting with sticks. It bears deliberate resemblance to the painting by Francisco de Goya, Fight with Cudgels, depicting two men battling, trapped knee-deep in mud, a highly symbolic image of the absurdity of war.
« It took him few days to get clean, all the water was black from the dirt in the trenches » said Yurko’s wife when he came back from the front line. Sparks explores the mechanisms that led people to deal with the trauma of war. In Beard grows like an experience, Andriy decides to cut his beard after 12 months spent in the warzone as a symbolic way to end this period. In Women came to the hospital, volunteer hairdressers cut the soldiers’ hair, revealing the scars on their heads.
Sparks is built with layers of perception, presenting several "understandings" of the phenomenon of war. The works, using photography, collage and video, whether produced or collected, all connect to transmit the experience.