THE WITNESSES (2023 — in progress)

installation (wood, plywood, plaster, cyanotype, video)

The Sandarmokh forest massif in Karelia is a place associated with the history of political repressions in the USSR. Most of the victims buried here were killed in 1937–1938. 

Fifty years after the tragedy, the secret burial site was discovered, becoming a place of remembrance for the people whose lives were cut short during the years of terror. For several years the artist has been coming to Sandarmokh. There she collects branches from the trees that grew on the burial site, equal to the number of those on the name list of the terror victims shot in Sandarmokh — 6241 people.

The artworks are made in the technique of cyanotype. Such images have the ability to regenerate: fading under prolonged exposure to light, they recover to their original state. The project will be completed when all 6241 branches are imprinted, as a memory of each deceased.

WITNESSES. Photographer Olya Pegova

Installation: artworks 195-220 (60*80 cm), 221-246 (60*80 cm), 38-89 (75*190 cm), 169-183 (30*40 cm), 15-27 (30*40 cm), 184-194 (30*40 cm), 1-14 (30*40 cm) (wood, plywood, plaster, cyanotype) 

Moscow Museum of Modern Art (ММОМА), Moscow, Russia, 2023



WITNESSES. Photographer Olya Pegova

Video documentation (42:49)

Memorial cemetery “Sandormokh”, the place of mass executions during the Great Terror.

Medvezhegorsky district, Republic of Karelia, 2023

WITNESSES. Photographer Olya Pegova

Video documentation (25:43)

Memorial cemetery “Sandormokh”, the place of mass executions during the Great Terror.

Medvezhegorsky district, Republic of Karelia, 2024

WITNESSES. Photographer Olya Pegova

Video documentation (24:00)

Memorial cemetery “Sandormokh”, the place of mass executions during the Great Terror.

Medvezhegorsky district, Republic of Karelia, 2024

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