Lesia Khomenko

“Eyewitness” is a project about my grandfather, Stepan Repin, who lived through World War II, working in reconnaissance and preparing maps. On the basis of his recollections, I paint my “battle-paintings of the war” with my grandfather as the central figure. By selecting key

fragments from my grandfather’s memoirs, where he was very near death, I create monumental canvases whose content is quite heroic for me personally; but at the same time they reveal the ambivalence of that which is depicted. I portray a different type of hero. I utilize the elements of the language of Socialist Realism to demonstrate my attitude toward history. Over time, human memory leaves only the essential on the surface, effacing the details. History often employs a manipulative mechanism based on colorful details. By removing everything superfluous from the frame, I make my instruments of manipulation “transparent.” Danger is present in my paintings without a coherent image of the “enemy.” In order to “manipulate,” I rely on real facts. On the testimony of an eye-witness.

I see this project as an opportunity for the extension and reinterpretation of the past.

I present a very personal, subjective view of history, insisting that this view can only be

subjective. I want to stress the question: does my generation have a right to the history in which it was not directly involved? Shouldn’t we reconsider the stereotypical notions which

complicate integration into an international context and the search for a new identity?

I continued this work after my grand father`s death in 2011. I have changed his original text

with memories. I used fragments of this text to create poetic text with rhyme which look like

original Soviet pathetic songs about battle and heroes of WW2. By this gesture I removed last

element which could relate to facts, truth and history, and show the way of appearing of myth.

I renamed this work from “Eyewitness” to “Stepan Repin”.