Dariia Kuzmych lives and works in Kyiv and Berlin. After finishing her bachelor in monumental painting at the Fine Art Academy in Kyiv, she completed the master program in media art at the Berlin University of Arts (Prof. Nina Fischer and Ai Weiwei). Her works synthesize fictional and documentary aspects, bringing them together in such forms as immersive installation, spatial drawing, video, and text. A central point that connects these multimedia practices is that they are capturing times of transition in a society and how it impacts an individual. In her current projects, she is engaged with various aspects of time perception in relation to traumatic events and crisis.
The trees which remained
ink and color pencils, polyester film, variable dimensions
Picturesque hills, seen from every corner, remind us of the danger of Sarajevo’s geological features. Through the gaps between the buildings and while walking along the river, and literally, from every open spot in the city you see the hills. But you are seen from the hill, too.
During the siege, there was no heating and electricity, which urged people to cut down the trees to heat their homes and prepare meals.
The trees behind the buildings were cut down, while others remained, being open to a sniper’s gaze.
Younger trees were planted soon after the war, replacing those which were necessary to survive. Thirty years later, the experience of the war is present through the beauty of the landscape, where neighbouring trees – old and young ones, reveal the randomness of Sarajevo‘s people’s intentional extinction.
