On June 23, 1941, in Lutsk, my great-great-grandfather Petro Rykhlinskyi was shot by NKVD officers on a fabricated charge. Ukrainians and other nations have many such family tragedies — deportations, confiscation of property, arrests, and executions without trial or investigation. I realized this when I started working on this project.
The stories of repressed Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Poles, and people of other nationalities who became victims of the Soviet regime are supplemented with photos of their descendants, creating diptychs, establishing a connection between descendants and ancestors, and restoring memory. Using archival photos as references, I recreate portraits with the descendants.
Silence, oblivion, and impunity lead to history repeating itself.
Inga Levi/great-uncle Vyacheslav Apchinsky
Yevhen Dementiev/ great-grandfather Nikifor Reklytsky
Borys Yaskevych/ great-grandfather Roman Yaskevych
Katya Ermolaeva/ great-grandfather Alexander Yarygin
Anya Beresteyska/ grandmother Anna Avramova
Yulia Martyniv/great-aunt Olga Kovalchuk
Simonas Olberkis/ grandfather Jonas Gvajdikas
Mindaugas Dovydaitis/ father Juozas Dovydaitis
Raimonda Masalskienė/ mother Janina Vasiliauskienė's
Sigita Kupscyte/ grandmother Petronėlė Kuraitytė-Stonienė-Stosienė
Virgilijus Skuodas/ grandfather Karolis Drukneris
