One day after

At Imagine Point Kyiv gallery, me near my artwork “Renju. 5 in a row” during group exhibition “One day after”.photo by Сергей Мазураш

The first weeks of the war. Sirens, news, fear and faith at the same time. During the air raids, my husband and I played a game of Renju. This game is preserved from childhood, it looks like a field with places for small balls. Renju is a game of concentration. The game helped us get rid of stress and calm down, distract us. I think that planning during the game helped me think later and take my time with my own decisions when emotions tried to take over. It’s like training.Renju is a strategy game. Each move is the construction of one’s positions, bypassing or blocking the opponent’s moves. It is necessary to place 5 balls in a row. And no matter how a strategy is created, there is always a moment of surprise – chance. And each game creates a new field, they are not repeated in order. Some games look like a geometric ornament or some strange code.The history of the composition began with drawings of anti-tank hedgehogs and tires. I created etchings with four different anti-tank hedgehogs and a tire. These etchings became the basis for the series “Crosses and zeros”, the composition “Plus”.Hedgehogs as a symbol of resistance, protection, defense.Tires as a symbol of revolution, purification.In the composition “Renju” tires and anti-tank hedgehogs met in dialogue.The rhythm of etching printing, the rhythm of the game, the rhythm of war. This is all that I am breathing now, this is the rhythm of my breathing.The large composition “Renju” can be seen in the Imagine Point Kyiv gallery until January 27.