The conflict in Ukraine continues and, as Ukrainian forces liberated Bucha, north-west of Kyiv, they found streets littered with corpses of civilians. Witnesses stated that they were killed by the invading Russian army without provocation. Photographs and videos show devastation and apocalyptic scenes, people with their hands and feet tied executed, or shot as they were riding a bicycle.
You wonder what kind of works creative minds from all over the world and Ukrainian artists in particular will produce one day after seeing all these shocking images of crimes against humanity. In a previous short article posted at the beginning of the war in Ukraine, we mentioned war rugs, but there are other textile formats that may inspire us to create works that could document the war.
Alighero Boetti’s Arazzi grandi, large works such as "oggi diciannovesimo giorno ottavo mese dell'anno millenove100ottantotto (Today the Nineteenth Day of the Eighth Month of the Year OneThousandNine100Eighty-Eight, 1988), incorporated embroidered letters forming words, texts and messages.
Often they contained metaphors, paraphrases, or simply small fragments or text, incorporated into grids inspired by mathematical laws and compositional principles. Poetry was preserved in the colour combinations and in the sounds of the words.
In the horror of war it is difficult to think about art, but the format of these tapestries could be reinvented to tell new contemporary stories, pay homage to the innocent victims of the war, and condemin the crimes against humanity currently being committed in Ukraine.
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