Armianovski, Piotr: Me and Mariupol (2017)

video
Long-term loan from the Peter und Irene Ludwig Stiftung, Aachen, 2019
Keywords

The central themes of the artist’s short films are political and social hardships that permeate the everyday life of people and affect their daily reflections, hopes and dreams. Armianovski asked the heroes of his movie to dream on behalf of the city of Mariupol, located in the southeast of Ukraine, directly on the border with the occupied territories and the conflict zone. Collective fantasies of a better future are intertwined in the footage with individual memories of the better past. Armianovski wanders with the camera in the places associated with his childhood memories that are now in ruins. The gloomy and tedious landscapes in the frame vividly contrast with the poetic intonation of the narrator behind the scenes who is looking for a “fairy tale” among the symbols of the former strength of the city. The only thing that remains unchanged is the sea. Today its dim surface sends the artist back to the memories of the Donetsk’s steppes, and the dream of a “miracle for Mariupol” becomes a projection of the artist’s grief over his home.