top of page

MARYNA HANDYSH

SCULPTOR
CERAMIST ARTIST

ARRAKIS

2015

Land-art object

This work was created at the International Land-Art festival "Mythogenesis", Vinnytsya, Ukraine.

 

The work is inspired by Frank Herbert's novel "Dune". 

 

The mechanism consists of film and plants that consume precipitation due to retention on the film. Such system is placed above the river, not touching the water. 

 

There used to be an old mill where object was created. This work is about conscious attitude of the team to its ecosystem. This is all about the decision to restore the ecosystem by applying restrictions onto yourself. Restraint to preserve nature for future generations.

The GUARDIANS

2019

Land-art objects.

For me, this shore became an army of angels who layered, rested, flew, swam, broke, coexisted, seemed invisible ...

I was looking for them. and saw their wings so sharp and so clear.

Just then it became clear to me that they are invisible angels who have chosen life among the mule. It has nothing evolutionarily complex and developed (I wonder, is there a "leg" in each of them, which they use to cling to or move). However, they constantly filter the water, and it's their common natural feature.

 

The water which is life for us. They  purify the lives of all living beings. And it seems to be so insignificant. I wonder, how many of those filters lay  on the shore like scrap. Lots and lots. 


And only the contours remain on the shore, when these wings are swept from above by sand. And in time  those contours are also washed away.

Invisible contours. Invisible actions. How many angels nearby? How much goes unnoticed?

AGING

2019

Land-art object

We used to have a permanent place to live, built a house, planted trees. We felt safe in our home ...

 

Now we are small, we have a migratory lifestyle. Mostly we do not root anywhere. We seem to have a home with us, but at the same time we have become more dependent on each other, globalization has erased certain borders and our independence has moved to another dimension.

It's mystique and vague how this may affect us.  Anticipation. Aging.

 

This work changes over time. Grapes dry up and snail houses fall away altogether.

2022
Video performance
with unfunctional chair


I have put myself in a situation where a chair (stripped of its main functionality) is controlling me, where it is influencing me, and where I am anxious about not knowing what will happen next, and this object becomes a partner in dialogue. It was an unexpected experience: I felt like I was being reborn as I crawled through the chair.
The first thing I had to do was to crawl through it in the most difficult way. It was painful. I wanted this pain. I wanted to understand the pain with the chair, which was confidently standing but which I could not fit into. I wanted to switch roles, to understand what it was like to be the support for the chair. I wanted to explore what would happen when everything planned was realized, what I could do with this object.
And finally, the state when I dissolve into the process and forget that I really have nowhere to sit at the moment. In the global sense, the chair has become a luxury item that is purchased for the long term. It is so interesting - when the object lost its functionality, a dialogue appeared, conscious interaction appeared. Balancing.
Anxiety, planning, and expectations have turned into living in the present and exploration. I am still thinking about this experience.

INTERACTION WITH CHAIR

2022
Documentary photos


In Chernihiv there is a monument to a military aircraft which was likely erected during Soviet times. Naturally it never caught my attention as it was just something familiar from my childhood. However six months before February 24th conversations began about a possible large-scale attack on Ukraine, the accumulation of Russian military equipment along the entire border, and the existing schemes for the use of filtration camps against the Ukrainian population. Nervous conversations, arguments, hypotheses, plans for future actions, thoughts about the anxious suitcase, and hope that it was all manipulation and bluff - all of this created psychological pressure. To somehow relieve myself of the internal panic, I began to take a photo of the monument to the military aircraft every day after work. I decided that while I see it in such an ornamental state - everything will be fine. As long as military equipment exists as monuments - I am safe.
Taking pictures of this plane and realizing that it doesn't really fit into the existing peaceful model of life made me feel better. How can a plane be aimed at residential buildings like that - it's alarming - but unreal. But it's just a doll! - everything else is moving around it - and it's just glued to the city landscape. This plane became a litmus paper for me. It is dead, motionless, non-existent, doll-like, and ornamental - it is just a decoration, just like all the anxiety around it. This oppressive February depression is just overwhelming. The little plane captured on a mobile camera - is like something from the past - unknown to me, while life is boiling around me in the form of changing lights, moving vehicles, and snowdrifts. This photo series will remain temporary relief for me - like a stress pill. And it really worked: every night I took a picture and went to bed with faith. It gave me a chance to enjoy life a little in February before the 24th, despite the all-pervading anxiety.
This was my fixation on hope. A hope that flew away from me with the first sound of bombing on February 24th at 6:45 in the morning. A hope that left no trace ten days later in the bomb shelter - because there was no chance of evacuation. Although a miracle happened, and now I can look back at the photos, I realize that I've lost hope - and it's something I'll never be able to fix

MONUMENT OF MILITARY
PLANE

bottom of page