When the Maidan protests started in December 2013, artist Mariya Diordichuk knew she had to be there to document what was happening. She set up her easel at the barricades and started painting, continuing even after she was wounded in one eye by shrapnel. She still paints the story of the protests with her series of prints remembering those who lost their lives.
“Women of Ukraine” series
Two years after the Maidan protests in Ukraine, women look back on the continuing struggle to fight for a free and democratic Ukraine.
Teaser: Artist Mariya Diordichuk was wounded in one eye while painting at the barricades during the 2013/2014 Maidan protests in Ukraine, but continued working to tell the story of the so-called Revolution of Dignity.
Footage includes: 1. (00:00) VARIOUS SHOTS MARIYA DIORDICHUK IN KIEV STUDIO
2. (00:24) Soundbite (UKRAINIAN), Mariya Diordichuk in studio
The spirit of Maidan for me is first and foremost people, people who are active, who are involved in developing their country.
For me people of Maidan are those who continue their fight even if, at a certain time or in a certain territory, the fight is over. The people of Maidan who are now forming interesting, new structures to influence the authorities.
I just worked there every day, painting. Actually my whole family came out because my mother helped the wounded in the Mikhailovsky Cathedral – she’s a doctor.
This was Grushevsky Street, it was January. And I remember on that day there were very many people there. This was the first time the so-called noise grenades were used. There was a moment when this noise grenade, not exactly exploded, but went off and then suddenly silence… Everybody is stunned, nobody understands what’s happening and what will be tomorrow or in a minute… I really had the impression that all the flags were frozen.
I remember one moment when I was very afraid. I was wounded in the left eye and I became really scared then, because I realized that I could be finished as an artist.
At a certain point, people who came from other countries started to leave their flags near a famous monument in the centre of Kyiv. In those moments, when you were feeling helpless and began to think that all was lost, it was enough to go there and look at how many countries are with us, how many people are with us.
It is the style of icon paintings. It was painful for me to draw them, I must confess. In order to portray these people, I had not only to find their photos but also to read their stories.
All these people were the first to be killed on the Maidan. They were all a united front. We were all fighting for one purpose. We just could not continue living in the same way as we had lived before.
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