Holodomor

2014, Groningen, the Netherlands, performance

 

‘Holodomor’ is the name of the two-year long, deliberate starvation of Ukrain, in 1932 and 1933, during the Stalin-regime.

 

Learning about ‘Holodomor’ I felt compelled to act. The effect of millions of people dying in silence (the villages where silenced from human activity/the names remained are undocumented) is described by Hannah Arendt as ‘the most important event that underlies the formation of a modern "fragmented" society in which all are alienated from all’ (p.80 Bloodlands, Timothy Schneider)

 

During a workday-long performance, I wrote down names of victims of Holodomor. The Cyrillic was not good known by me, which made pronouncing the names a revealing, to myself and to bystanders. This was an action, to commemorate a historic event. By bringing it back to mind, the past can be reflected on, mourned upon and healed.