An open access publication of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences
Spring 2023

Izium

Author
Sergiy Maidukov
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Sergiy Maidukov is a Donetsk-born and Kyiv-based illustrator who regularly works with The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Guardian Weekly, The Washington Post, and others. His works are present in the public spaces of Kyiv, exhibited in the U.S. Library of Congress, and are permanently exhibited at the Hall of Contemporary Art of the Odessa Art Museum.

A digital rendering of four people in hazmat suits holding a black bag weighed down with something around to the size of a human body. Trees surround them in the background, and caution tape stretches between the trees closest to them, creating a barrier between the figures and the viewer.

Різниця в сприйнятті війни через стрічку новин і наживо–колосальна. Як українець, я хотів бачити цю трагедію–ексгумацію тіл українців, закатованих росіянами–на власні очі. Я розповідатиму доньці потім про війну; зокрема я хочу говорити про те, свідком чого був особисто. Я витримав півтори години. Дуже тяжко.

“There is a colossal difference between one’s real-life perception of war versus perceptions of war from the media. As a Ukrainian, I wanted to see this tragedy–the exhumation of the bodies of Ukrainians tortured by the Russians–with my own eyes. When I tell my daughter about the war in the future, I want to share what I personally witnessed. I watched the exhumation for an hour and a half before I could no longer bear to look. It was extremely difficult.”