#codefc: August 2019

Over the years I changed my practice many times and organised many projects that took me to very unusual places and circumstances.. from genocide museums, to nazi bunkers, countries still in the grip of strong dictatorships to ex war fields ( this last one really makes you see things from a different perspective ).
In all cases my art starts with research of events, history.. manipulation of images that come from that particular place and the finished design, the artwork, is later placed / painted back in that same place it originally came from.

Some sort of self portraits to put myself in their situation and to kind of pay tribute.

The initial idea for Chernobyl was exactly to pay tribute to the liquidators.."to those who saved the world " as the memorial says, and create artwork to be placed in the power station or at least around it. I had a vague memory of the accident and even though fascinated by the event my knowledge was very limited. Doing a bit more research I decided to take into consideration the abandoned city of Pripyat and the people who lived there changing the project slightly. How best to honour those people? How best to pay a tribute to all those people that left their homes? Bring them back home. Collect photos from Pripyat and recreate everyday situations bringing life back to a city that remained abandoned for over 30 years.

Most guides I contacted were not exactly happy about my art project and already many complain about some new graffiti done by another street artist there.. and I can see why.

Going with stalkers means 4 days walking around, sleeping in some of the abandoned houses and risk of getting caught ( tha results in a fine and taken away from the site ). My Ukranian friend managed to get in touch with authorities, show the ideas I sent her and organise the mission. The one day trip was short and allowed me to only put few designs up ....to be continued

Staring out the window