2017-2020
“Okolotok” when scary fairy tales turn into reality
2017-2020
Okolotok is an old Ukrainian word that means a closed village, a kind of state within a state. This story is about a village where only children live. They have their own crazy King, their own Jester who dreams of seizing power in the kingdom, and a Princess who never goes out in the sun and lives only in the shade.
This is a story of allegorical images that emerge from childhood, because childhood is a haven for fantasy, dreams, illusion, and fairy tales, but fairy tales are not always good, and sometimes they are inhabited by monsters and demons.
The circle of this project closed when Russian troops entered my real, non-fictional village. On February 24, I saw a column of Russian tanks marching on Kharkiv, and that was the first time the crazy King really smiled at me.
Jesters in military uniforms told us: “Everything will be fine, just go to our side”. Reality turned out to be more terrible than scary fairy tales. The Okolotok became a reality.
