PROJECT "HUNGER"
WHO?
One of the pioneers of the Metamodernist movement, painter Yona tackles the social theme associated with the problems of hunger in the modern world within her interdisciplinary project "HUNGER".
WHEN?
Since 2009 Yona has been studying historical materials on the famine in Ukraine and the Soviet Union from the period 1921-1923, 1932-1933, 1946-1947, using an academic approach in selecting sources of information from archives and personal interviews with living witnesses who survived the famine.
HOW?
The project "HUNGER" uses a metamodern method of research with scientific and artistic techniques, which serves as a basis for the connection between the disciplines of science and fine art. The synthesis of art and science creates an opportunity for the work of art to be engaged in a debate concerning a more detailed disclosure of the past that reflects in the present.
WHAT?
The results of the study on the subject and newly discovered documentary sources are used to recreate the Soviet famine in Ukraine in the form of metamodern historical paintings.
Both the texts and the visual images of the famine in the paintings are complex documents with their own history of creation. They do not simply "illustrate" the famine, but are part of its history of representation and cultural significance.
Images within Yona's paintings shed light on the tragic consequences of the famine since the 20th century. The emotional artistic expression in the paintings is a means of deep penetration into the atmosphere of abused human dignity.
WHY?
Through project "HUNGER", Yona seeks to raise awareness about the consequences of totalitarianism and mass starvation, and to inspire unity and peace among people around the world.
The project "HUNGER" helps to recognize that the modern world has become hostage to the unpunished crimes of Soviet totalitarianism, in particular the repressive anti-peasant happenings that contributed to the mass starvation of the population during the 20th century.
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it” - this thought belonging to the philosopher George Santayana should sound like an alarm, the strength of which would be amplified by the historical paintings that are part of the "Hunger" project.
The grinding sounds of hunger coming from the past shall still ring in the souls of the people in the present and the future, through the power of Contemporary Art.
The aim of Tukuser's interdisciplinary project is to unite people through its artistic subject “Hunger”, so that such sufferings shall no longer occur around the world and sends a message of Peace:
„Let the suffering of the people serve to unite us, not divide us, causing enmity and sparking new wars“.
FILM "ANTHROPOPHAGE"
In May 2018, Yona started the shooting of the documentary "ANTHROPOPHAGE" in a number of villages in Ukraine, presenting personal stories of starvation and anthropophagy in the Odessa region in Ukraine in 1946-1947.
Hunger suppresses the unconditional reflex in people who have reached cannibalism. This characterizes the historical periods of social transformations, wars, epidemics.
The bark of social forms of behavior is destroyed, the fire of biological impulses erupts and instead of a cultural socius, you see a wild animal, completely unlike a cultural being.
PAINTINGS
2010 - 2023
The project «Hunger» by the painter Yona is comprised of a series of thematic paintings inspired by documents. In 2009 Yona began studying historical materials on the famine in Ukraine and the USSR in the period 1946-1947, using an academic approach in selecting sources of information from archives and personal interviews with living witnesses who survived the famine. ...
ANTHROPOPHAGE
Released 7 May 2021
«Anthropophage» is concept music album by Yona, featuring trembling electronic sound improvisations created in Rome from 2016 to 2021. Sounds recreating the terrifying atmosphere of Anthropophage - Sounds of Inanition Hunger Delirium. ...
SCIENTIFIC PAPER
November 2020
Institute for Historical Studies - Bulgarian Academy of Sciences published a scientific paper of Yona Tukuser - «Projection of a Metamodern Method for the Study of the Famine in Bessarabia in 1946-1947 Reflected in Historical Painting» in the magazine «Istoricheski Pregled». ...