BLURRING THE LINES
BLURRING THE LINES

Olesia Saienko

On the repressed

EDITION

2025, Shortlisted

school

MYPH School, Mykolaïv, Ukraine

links

@olesia_saienko ↗

 

On June 23, 1941, in Lutsk, my great-great-grandfather Petro Rykhlinskyi was shot by NKVD officers on a fabricated charge. Ukrainians and other nations have many such family tragedies – deportations, confiscation of property, arrests, and executions without trial or investigation. I realized this when I started working on this project. The stories of repressed Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Poles, and people of other nationalities who became victims of the Soviet regime are supplemented with photos of their descendants, creating diptychs, establishing a connection between descendants and ancestors, and restoring memory. Using archival photos as references, I recreate portraits with the descendants. Silence, oblivion, and impunity lead to history repeating itself.

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Olesia Saienko

On the repressed

EDITION

2025, Shortlisted

school

MYPH School, Mykolaïv, Ukraine

links

@olesia_saienko ↗

 

On June 23, 1941, in Lutsk, my great-great-grandfather Petro Rykhlinskyi was shot by NKVD officers on a fabricated charge. Ukrainians and other nations have many such family tragedies – deportations, confiscation of property, arrests, and executions without trial or investigation. I realized this when I started working on this project. The stories of repressed Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Poles, and people of other nationalities who became victims of the Soviet regime are supplemented with photos of their descendants, creating diptychs, establishing a connection between descendants and ancestors, and restoring memory. Using archival photos as references, I recreate portraits with the descendants. Silence, oblivion, and impunity lead to history repeating itself.

← Previous Talent

Next Talent →