Let Us Not Fall Asleep While Walking

In 1991, Ukraine gained its independence from the Soviet Union in the aftermath of its dissolution at the end of the Cold War. Following independence, Ukraine declared itself a neutral state. In 2013, protests against the government of President Yanukovych broke out in downtown Kiev after the government made the decision to suspend the Ukraine-European Union Association Agreement and seek closer economic ties with Russia. This began a several-months-long wave of demonstrations and protests known as the Euromaidan, which later escalated into the 2014 Ukrainian revolution that ultimately resulted in the overthrowing of Yanukovych and the establishment of a new government. These events precipitated the annexation of Crimea by Russia in March 2014, and the War in Donbass in since March 2014.

‘Let Us Not Fall Asleep While Walking’ depicts the psychological state of this Ukraine looking at its future while haunted by its past and memory. The work is a metaphorical representation of the everyday life encountered by the Ukrainian people where time seems frozen but dreams for an independent future still linger.