Donbas Odyssey
is a participatory art project based on oral histories and mental maps of people who were displaced from Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts in Ukraine because of the ongoing military conflict. Yulia Filipieva, Viktor Zasypkin and I initiated the project in summer 2015, as part of the CSM/Foundation Centre for Contemporary Art project, Mosaics of the City, growing into a larger and independent initiative after the first phase with CSM. We conducted more than 60 interviews with displaced people during which we talked about homes and hometowns, asking the narrators to draw mental maps of these. We later used these materials to create art interventions in public spaces and exhibitions. Donbas Odyssey has also delivered workshops on mental mapping and oral history.
Interventions and exhibitions:
St Andrews Byre Theatre, Scotland, UK, 2019
Narratives of Migration Festival, Izmir, Turkey 2018
Persha Lvivska Mediateka, Lviv, Ukraine 2018
Interventions in public space, Lviv, Ukraine, 2018
4City, Odesa, Ukraine, 2017
5th Odesa Biennale of Contemporary Art, Odesa, Ukraine, 2017
Interventions in public space, Odesa, Ukraine, 2017
“What is your name?” group exhibition, Mystetskyi
Arsenal Gallery, Kyiv, Ukraine, 2016
Interventions in public space, Kyiv, Ukraine, 2015
More details about the project can be found on its Facebook page.
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