• The Time Has Come

Collections:
Edm rights:
  • In Copyright
Creator:
  • Ray, Mikhail
Barcode:
  • 00000000000000
Label:
  • Folder Ray_26
Is part of:
  • Ukrainian Art in Times of War: 2014-
Coverage:
  • Ukraine
Format:
  • Photographs
Origin place:
  • Ukraine
Language:
  • English
Subject:
  • Artists
  • Arts
  • War
Category:
  • Arts and culture
  • Arts and culture
  • Politics and government
Description:
  • Description provided by artist:
  • "October 7. Storyteller’s Birthday.
  • Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich, I congratulate you on your 70th birthday! On this significant day, I couldn't stand aside. This artwork is for you. I heard that you already have a certificate for a tractor and pyramids of melons, but none of my art. That’s a mistake. Thanks to your efforts, life in Kherson is already changing dramatically for the better. Large LED displays were installed on the streets immediately after the referendum. They show us the slogan, written in beautiful letters, that "Kherson Region has made the right choice!" Thank you, Vladimir Vladimirovich! At first I didn't understand why it wasn’t citizens or residents of the region, but later it became clear to me. First of all, it's fair, no one asked the residents. Secondly, in Russia this is normal: there is an area for which a particular official is responsible, so the area makes the right choice, which its residents will later learn from the display. Your soldiers did not like this "right choice" either. After all, now they are supposed to die for their motherland. Their pale faces radiate despair, as if they really want to live, but they don't know how. Perhaps sensitive display electronics also feel it. Some of them show a pixel porridge instead of beautiful letters - a digital analogue of pale despair...
  • Vladimir Vladimirovich, everything is symbolic! The red tractor you have now is similar to the one used by Peter the Pig to "run away from Rashka" (old meme from 2006-2015), and pyramids in ancient Egypt were built to bury pharaohs. My artwork is about this, too. But I hope that after seeing it and reading my congratulations, you will be able to see yourself and your life from another perspective. Perhaps you already feel that the fate of the world is not brought about by geopolitics or economics, as you believed, but by some other force. It cares about us like a mother looks after her small child that is growing and learning, and it creates the conditions for this. It doesn't care what happens to you, Russia and the “Russian World”. We are all part of its big plan and what you consider your decisions, tragedy, and collapse is its creation. Your role in it has already been played. "Freedom or death!" At first you woke up the Ukrainians, and now it's time to wake up the Russians. They have the same choice now. You definitely won't be forgotten. Go in peace!"
  • Photography, digital art, mixed technique.
Height:
  • 100 cm
Width:
  • 96 cm
Sort title:
  • time has come
Page count:
  • 1
Created:
  • 05/23/24 05:50:53 PM UTC
Modified:
  • 11/24/25 10:55:49 AM UTC
Folder number:
  • Ray_26
Date created:
  • 2022
Series:
  • The Storyteller: War Diary of Mikhail Ray