‘Mî vndeta agnst Pūtin’: ɖ Ycreńn sculptr huz hōntñ wrc z śept bî wor
(Transcription of an Observer article of 15 April 2023)
Miħaīl Reva hz yzd śrapnl n misîlparts t rīcriet ɖ nîtmer wrld v ɖ conflict
Lūc Hardñ in Odesa, Saṭde 15 Epril 2023
H z Ycren’z most feṃs sculptr. Miħaīl Reva’z plêfl n hymṛs crieśnz hv bn sìn bî miłnz v ppl n cn b faund in sqerz n bīćz in hiz netiv Odesa, in Cyīv n abrōd. Hiz sculpćrz sum p Odesa’z insūsịnt vy v lîf. “Odesa hz a ynīc lanḡj n spirit. I riylîzd ɖt ɖs siti śd pzes its ǒn plastic art – slîtli îronic, a litl nîīv, cerlis n joklr,” h sd.
Bt Vḷadīmir Pūtin’z inveźn hz trnsformd Reva’z wrc, az wel az ɖt v uɖr Ycreńn artists, promtñ him t imbres ny n darcr formz. Ɖ horrz v Bŭća n Marịpól – ẃr Ruśn soljrz x’ktd siviłnz – inspîrd him t criet a siriz v xtrordnri ny sculpćrz. Ɖe mt hv spruñ fṛm a Hoffmann fẹritêl crost wɖ a nîtmer.
Ɖ sntrpìs z a for-mītr-tōl sculpćr v Moloc, an enćnt god, in ɖ form v a Ruśn ber. Reva md it fṛm śrapnl n uɖr bom rmenz, rcuvrd fṛm ɖ batlfīld n wldd tgɖr. “It’s lîc a jîgantic scẹri ćildṛn’z tô. It wl b on ẃīlz,” Reva sd. “Ɖ ber hz biblicl asośieśnz n rfŕz t Mosco. Y lc at it n it hipṇtîzz y. Ɖr z fṛjiḷti n brūtaḷti.”
Anɖr hōntñ sculpćr z tîtld Blosm. Its flǎrñ metl form z cnstructd fṛm ɖ twistd parts v an X-31 Ruśn misîl ɖt landd nxt t Reva’z stydio in ɖ Blac Sī rzort v Zatoca, in suɖn Ycren. It blù ɖ dorz of hiz sumr daśa. Mrakḷsli, Reva’z sculpćrz wr undamijd. A nebr c’lectd ɖ fragmnts n gev ɖm t him.
Ovr ɖ past yir, ɖ sculptr hz bcm an xprt at dstnḡśñ difṛnt tîps v eṇmiwepn. Sm v ɖ debri bròt t hiz stydio includz fosfṛs bomz. “It’s denjṛs t briɖ ɖm in,” h sd. “I nǒ ɖ caṛctr n txćr v ć pìs v metl. It flù wɖ sć fors. Mî wrc z’nt an insṭleśn or pformns. It’s a mesij ɖt cmz fṛm pen.”
H hops t xibit Rŭsci Mir in Lundn, Brlin, Ny Yorc n uɖr mejr sitiz. It cd b prṃnntli dspleid in a ny ḿziym v wor in Cyīv – bt ɖt fr nǎ z litl mor ɖn an îdīa az ɖ conflict rejz on.
Reva sd h cnsidrd hiz b’luvid 88-yir-old muɖr, Valentina, t b a victim v Ruśn agreśn. Ś daid last sumr sn aftr h ivaketd hr fṛm hr nînʈ-flor Odesa hom.
Ejd 64, n ɖ sun v a sīcaptin, Reva studid sculpćr in ɖ lêt 1980z n spent fîv hapi yirz at ɖ hayr scūl v art n dzîn, in ẃt wz ɖen Leningrad. An ǎtstandñ stydnt, h wún a scolrśp t Rom, ɖen rtrnd t Odesa. Tîmz wr hard in ɖ nyli indipndnt Ycren. Wn v hiz frst petṛnz wz a locl mafịbos, hu wz lêtr śot ded.
Hiz c’rir tc of, n Ycren’z ɖen prezidnt, Leonid Cŭćma, bcem a fan. It wz Cŭćma hu cmiśnd ɖ Pūtin súndayl. Nǎ Reva sz h fīlz aśemd fr Ruśa n St Pīṭzbrg ẃr h spent hiz stydnt dez. “Ɖs z a wor v Cên vrss Êbl, Devid agnst G’layʈ. Mî smōl cuntri hz rzistd a gret monstr,” h sd. Hiz “dīp fīlñz” abt ɖ conflict ćenjd hiz art, h add. H wontd t avôd “isʈetics”, prifŕñ instd t dlivr “a prisîs, fînît imij”.
Mnẃl, Odesnz stl sīc ǎt hiz priinveźn public sculpćrz – crietd, h sz, fṛm a ples v “lît n cîndnis”. On Lanźerón bīć, nt far fṛm Odesa’z harbr, grūps pǒz in frunt v a strîcñ dor, cōld Domus Solis (Hǎs v ɖ Sún), best on ɖ entṛns v a grand 19ʈ-snć̣ri manśn, nǎ dstroid. Bhnd it z ɖ Blac Sī, ʈroñd bî Ruśn worśips.
Anɖr landmarc Reva mońmnt z lcetd in Odesa’z mn pdestrịn aṿny, Deribasifsca. Ɖ Twelfʈ Ćer – y cn sit on it – z an afx́ṇt tribyt t ɖ Sovịt raitrz Ilya Ilf n Yevğeni Petrov, huz stori v dîmndz hidn in ɖ sīt hz bn trnd intu coṃdifilmz. “Ɖ ćer invîts vywrz t an endlis gem wɖ ɖ sculpćr,” Reva xplend, “a sort v pformns v rleśnz.”
Ɖs wīc, Lena Sŭmsca n hr frend Anatolii jônd a k wêtñ t pǒz bî ɖ sculpćr. Anatolii wevd caś arnd: a sīn fṛm ɖ film. H sañ tū soñz, wn a 1955 hit bî ɖ Odesa crūnr Leonid Utyesov n ɖ uɖr, Ǒ Odesa! Prl bî ɖ Sī. Sumska sd ś hd fled t Jrṃni ẃn ɖ wor startd n hd rtrnd fr a wīc-loñ trip, tecñ fotoz t śo hr faṃli bac in Magdeburg.
“I’d lîc t ʈanc ɖ sculptr. H’z md a wundṛs ʈñ,” ś sd. Ś ɖen dlivrd an impromtu mesij fr Pūtin, rfŕrñ t him bî hiz unflaṭrñ dmińtiv nicnem, Vova. “Vova, y’v got nʈñ t se t s! W d’nt nīd y! G hom!” ś dclerd.
Ś add ćirḟli: “W r noun fr ǎr aḟrizmz hir. Ɖt’s ɖ spirit v Odesa.”
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Lūc Hardñ’z Inveźn: Ruśa’z Bludi Wor n Ycren’z Fît fr Svîvl z publiśt bî Gardịn Febr (£20)
