Where Have All The Birds Gone? (2024 -ongoing)
Installation view. CCA Tbilisi, Georgia, ruins of Narikala Military Fortress, Tbilisi, Georgia.
Public art, mixed media (wheat flour, rye flour, salt, black cumin seeds, gouache, text, photography, video).

Where Have All The Birds Gone? is part of an ongoing artistic research on the relationship between culture and nature, the aftermath of conflicts, migration and the language of communication.

Drawing on the etymology of Surzhyk - a Ukrainian-Russian pidgin, a mixed language - and the ancient Cossack song Koloda-Duda, the project addresses both the causes and consequences of conflicts and crises. The hybrid birds, shaped from wheat and rye flour, embody the surzyk's meaning and become anti-war symbols, reflecting how words, like seeds, can sow unity or conflict, and how language can unite or divide.

The relationship between language and war can be observed from many different perspectives. War is what happens when language fails. What sets us apart from animals is our ability to use our imagination to create stories in our minds that we then believe in. Therefore, language can be used as a weapon in wars and conflicts. Language's importance as a means of communication and as a factor of identity makes it a convenient propaganda tool for both conflict escalation and resolution.

"What do we hear in the birdsong of our homes? Each species has a sound signature, and individuals within species have their own unique voices. Many meanings are embedded in this diversity of acoustic expression". This project began with the words of the ancient Cossack song Koloda-Duda from the steppes of the Don River, near the border between Russia and Ukraine:

And where are the geese? They’ve gone into the reeds.
And where are the reeds? The girls have pulled them up.
And where are the girls? The girls have taken husbands.
And where are the Cossacks? They’ve gone to the war.

Later, this particular song, mentioned in Michael Sholokhov’s book ‘And Quietly Flows the Don’ became the inspiration for Pete Seeger’s famous song 'Where Have All the Flowers Gone’, which was performed by Marlen Dietrich and many other singers and became an anti-war message for many people.