Letter to a Turtledove
2020 - Film & Video (Film & Video)
20:55 minutes
Dana Kavelina
Letter to a Turtledove by Dana Kavelina is a short film based on a poem written by the artist. Delivered as a monologue and presented with subtitles, the poem encapsulates the traumas, grievances, horrors, dreams, and hallucinations that have descended upon Ukraine’s Donbass region since its invasion by Russia in 2014. Appropriating amateur footage shot during the war in the Donbass region, Kavelina’s film weaves sound and image into a poignant tapestry that considers the absurdity of war. The footage is spliced with Kavelina’s own animated segments, staged mise-en-scène, and archival footage of the Donbass from the 1930s. Kavelina’s reimagining of old tropes is a surreal and powerful anti-war film-poem. Originally conceived as a radio play, “Letter” actually refers to a radio signal, or call, addressed to a woman in the occupied territories. The film is an attempt to build an alternative optics through which to examine the conflict in Ukraine. It is an invitation to understand the war not through the lens of the “friend-enemy” paradigm, but through the “rapist-victim” dichotomy. While victimhood is typically understood as the confiscation or denial of one’s subjectivity, Kavelina’s film proposes victimhood as a status that possesses agency by absorbing and encapsulating violence.
Dana Kavelina is an artist and activist who works with video, animation, painting, illustration, and text. Through these mediums, Kavelina injects an artistic component into civic activism and protest. Her work considers vulnerability, personal and collective trauma, as well as historical and cultural perceptions of war that exceed conventional narratives. Her award-winning animated film About Mark Lvovich Tulpanov, Who Talked to Flowers (2017) depicts the events of the military conflict in Donbas, Ukraine through the lens of personal tragedies.
Colors:
Related works sharing similar palette
© » ART & OBJECT
Art & Object Marketplace: A New Way to Buy Art Online | Art & Object Skip to main content Subscribe to our free e-letter! Webform Your Email Address Role Art Collector/Enthusiast Artist Art World Professional Academic Country USA Afghanistan Albania Algeria American Samoa Andorra Angola Anguilla Antarctica Antigua & Barbuda Argentina Armenia Aruba Ascension Island Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia & Herzegovina Botswana Bouvet Island Brazil British Indian Ocean Territory British Virgin Islands Brunei Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Canary Islands Cape Verde Caribbean Netherlands Cayman Islands Central African Republic Ceuta & Melilla Chad Chile China Christmas Island Clipperton Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia Comoros Congo - Brazzaville Congo - Kinshasa Cook Islands Costa Rica Croatia Cuba Curaçao Cyprus Czechia Côte d’Ivoire Denmark Diego Garcia Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Eswatini Ethiopia Falkland Islands Faroe Islands Fiji Finland France French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Gibraltar Greece Greenland Grenada Guadeloupe Guam Guatemala Guernsey Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana Haiti Heard & McDonald Islands Honduras Hong Kong SAR China Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Isle of Man Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Jersey Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Kosovo Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macao SAR China Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania Mauritius Mayotte Mexico Micronesia Moldova Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Montserrat Morocco Mozambique Myanmar (Burma) Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands Netherlands Antilles New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria Niue Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands North Korea North Macedonia Norway Oman Outlying Oceania Pakistan Palau Palestinian Territories Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Pitcairn Islands Poland Portugal Puerto Rico Qatar Romania Russia Rwanda Réunion Samoa San Marino Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Sint Maarten Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Georgia & South Sandwich Islands South Korea South Sudan Spain Sri Lanka St...
© » KADIST
Jakob Kudsk Steensen
2018The virtual reality work Aquaphobia by Jakob Kudsk Steensen examines it’s title subject matter – the fear of water...
© » MODERN MET PHOTOGRAPHY
2023 Environmental Photographer of the Year Contest Winners Home / Photography / Photo Contest Incredible Winners of the 2023 Environmental Photographer of the Year Highlight Our Planet’s Climate Struggles By Jessica Stewart on December 13, 2023 “Black Soldier Fly Farming (I)” by Maurizio di Pietro...
© » PRISHTINA INSIGHT
2024 Budget Prioritizes Defense at the Expense of Economic Development - Prishtina Insight Home Kallxo Jeta në Kosovë Drejtësia në Kosovë Gazeta JNK Log In Subscribe News Features Opinion Guide Big Deal Archive Follow @prishtinsight Design: Prishtina Insight 2024 Budget Prioritizes Defense at the Expense of Economic Development The Assembly of Kosovo has provisionally approved the Draft Law for the 2024 budget, just days after the Government of Kosovo endorsed it with a value exceeding 3 billion euros...
© » KADIST
Caroline Monnet, Mobilize A screening program followed by the artist in with conversation with Adam Piron, Assistant Curator for Film at LACMA Montreal-based artist Caroline Monnet explores Indigenous identity, bicultural living, and complex cultural histories through photography, sculpture, film, video, and installation...
© » KADIST
Arash Fayez
2021The short film I Can Only Dance to One Song by Arash Fayez features a series of people from the migrant community in Barcelona singing along or dancing to songs of their choosing...
© » KADIST
Dread Scott
2022In conjunction with his first NFT sale of White Male Dread Scott made and circulated a poster titled Whites For Sale ...
© » KADIST
Participants include American Artist (artist); Anti-Eviction Mapping Project (data-visualization, data analysis, and storytelling collective); Jérôme Bel (choreographer); James Bridle (writer, artist, and technologist); Kate Crawford (Distinguished Research Professor at NYU); Martha Kenney (Assistant Professor of Women and Gender Studies at San Francisco State University); Laura Kurgan (Professor of Architecture at GSAPP, and Director, Center for Spatial Research, Columbia University); Trevor Paglen (artist and researcher); Gala Porras-Kim (artist); Kameelah Janan Rasheed (artist and learner); Steve Rowell (artist); Davide-Christelle Sanvee (performance artist); and Andros Zins-Browne (choreographer)...
