Film still
Film still
Film still
film-botanical-doc-01
film-botanical-doc-02
film-botanical-doc-03
previous arrowprevious arrow
next arrownext arrow

Botanical Documentation of Existence

Original Title: Ботанічна документація існування
Director: Darya Tsymbalyuk
Ukraine, 5 minutes, 2023, video essay

Mum and I have always been close. This video essay builds on our conversations and mum’s photos of Kyiv she was sharing with me in WhatsApp after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The war cuts deep into the everyday realities, into our most intimate relations, disfigures the familiar. Against this violence, my mother holds on to life and stays attuned to its diverse forms, and I stay attuned to her.

Trigger warning: description of death
Film screening dates: 27.11.2023 — 10.12.2023
Director
Darya Tsymbalyuk writes, researches, and draws. Her work lies at the intersection of environmental humanities and artistic research, and engages with feminist and decolonial methodologies. Darya is interested in stories about more-than-human worlds we live in and in looking for possibilities to tell these stories in a way that is attentive to other-than-human beings. Since 2020 she has been collaborating with Kateryna Voznytsia, Yulia Serdyukova, Victor "Corwic" Zasypkin and others on a docufiction animation "Displaced Garden". “Botanical Documentation of Existence” was created as part of the residency “Bodies as Lands—Sociotechnical Imaginaries and Spatial Arrangements in Eastern Europe” (Nida Art Colony, curated by Asia Bazdyrieva and Egija Inzule). You can find other works by Darya, including multiple essays at daryatsymbalyuk.com.