What is sound? And what is silence in terms of sound? How do sound and silence affect us?

For Ukrainians living through the brutal war, these two phenomena have acquired special significance.

… a sunny morning is interrupted by the sounds of sirens, changing the perception of everything around. I continue to write the description of my project ‘Heal’ and realize how much it reflects the present. Not just my present or that of my compatriots, but our shared present. About humanity. Another missile attack in Kyiv. The target – a children’s hospital…

For both civilians and soldiers, sound is the most terrifying and at the same time the most significant element. After the alarm, the sounds we cannot see but only hear become traumatic experiences. After the alarm, you cannot distinguish whether the sounds you hear are cars passing by or missiles approaching. In rehabilitation centers where military personnel are stationed, hand dryers are being removed to adapt the space for their healing process.

Both sound and silence can be an irritant, a memory, and a source of healing. Different effects can be achieved by combining sounds with silence at specific moments (between sounds). The most intriguing aspect is that each listener will perceive this effect differently, depending on their situation and life experience.

Thanks to my mentors Jeremiah Chiu and Marta Sofia Honer, during Time Based mentorship program we have developed a universal concept. It provides an understanding of how to work with any objects.

This performance is directly based on the real story of “Lost Paradise” Polina Raiko’s, a Ukrainian amateur artist with a tragic fate, who found solace in drawing and painted her own house in the Naive style. It was her way of healing.

With the arrival of the invaders from Russia, a man-made disaster ensued when the dam of the Kakhovsky Reservoir was destroyed as a result of one of their numerous terrorist acts. This act destroyed Polina’s “Path to Paradise.”

This story teaches us about inexhaustible love despite all the horrors of the modern world. This is probably the only thing that is still possible and worth holding on to – supporting yourself, your relatives, your environment, and like-minded people.

In the performance, there was also space for improvisation as an inner feeling and living of this story. And what will the listener feel here? This is a question to which I, to my great joy, do not have an answer.

Reveal your inner vision and let me introduce “Heal.”