Can you see me through The Wall?
Can you hear me through The Wall?
I am the mirror of Fear
Pass through me
To freedom.
Daria Pugachova
Through the Wall
The war that russia brought to my country caused a lot of physical and emotional damage.
Many of us spent hours hiding behind the two walls of our homes. This is the rule that we have to follow to protect ourselves from russian missile attacks. I couldn’t tell you how it feels – to wake up to the sound of sirens at night, to hide behind the two walls of your tiny apartment while hearing explosions in someone's home, and hoping that the next russian missile won’t hit yours. Indeed, the two walls gave me protection –emotional rather than physical.
Hiding behind the walls, I realized that my home is so fragile and my life could be taken away in a moment. That’s how I started living with the fear. The fear that I couldn't escape from, run from it, fight it. I could not hide from that fear behind the two walls. It was through the walls that the fear could pass, enter my body and settle in it within the sound of sirens.
I couldn’t tell you how it feels –
to live through the wall of fear.
But you know fear, don't you?
Perhaps you can see it…
Daria Pugachova is a multidisciplinary artist, performer and art activist born in Rivne, Ukraine.
She works with performance as a medium of change, uniting communities in public places and engaging people in the transformative power of art. Daria’s latest projects are based on her experience of war. She explores the topic of freedom and limitation, addressing emotional pain and trauma with voice, body and ritual. In 2022, she received recognition winning the Art(ist) prize at the Ars Electronica festival in Linz, Austria.
She also became a finalist of Circa x Dazed Class of 2022, and the winner of the Piccadilly Lights Prize with her film "Microcosmos", featured on Piccadilly Lights in London. Through her recent projects, Daria aims to bridge the gap between artists and policymakers, with the goal to raise global awareness of war-related issues and engage decision-makers through her art. One of her most recent notable performances, "Cities of War," took place in front of the UN International Court of Justice in The Hague.
Through The Wall
performance
I will draw the wall between us.
On one side of the wall, I perform the positions that represent fear.
The other side is yours – observe your fear and pass through it.
The rule: never cross the wall.
