Untitled 

Editor: This untitled work is a mixed-media piece; it looks like watercolour and paint maybe? It shows soldiers pointing weapons, with slogans in speech bubbles above. The colours are intense. The whole scene feels chaotic. What symbols or meanings jump out at you in this image? Curator: The painting is definitely dense with iconography. The soldiers' helmets display symbols with deep roots. We have the Kolovrat, an ancient solar symbol appropriated by neo-Nazis. We see other symbols too – like the Ukrainian Trident alongside swastika-like symbols on others. It creates this horrific distortion. Does this clash of images suggest anything about the conflict it depicts? Editor: It does feel like it’s purposefully jumbling different sides, different ideologies. Like nothing is clear-cut. Is that the artist's point? Curator: Precisely. It's exploring how cultural memory can be manipulated. Symbols that once carried positive or neutral weight are twisted to justify violence. This speaks to the complexities of identity and allegiance. The image evokes a sense of fragmentation, doesn’t it? Editor: Yes, absolutely. The different symbols crammed together in a seemingly naive style… it’s quite disturbing. Almost like a visual overload of conflicting messages. I also wonder if the deliberate naivety is part of the message itself, perhaps an irony? Curator: That’s perceptive. Think about folk art or even propaganda posters. Often, these intentionally simplified visual languages become vehicles for very potent, sometimes dangerous, ideas. Davyd Chychkan asks us to unpack all that inherited visual information and question what we think we know about the symbols that shape us. Editor: That’s really fascinating! It makes you realize how much history and power can be packed into what seems like a simple image. It’s definitely given me a lot to think about regarding the visual language we use. Curator: Indeed, a single image, and especially its symbolism, contains layers of narratives waiting to be discovered and questioned.