KRHONIKY: The Alternative Folklore of the Region

KHRONIKY

“Throughout history, traditional music and culture has been appropriated and misrepresented; presently in Ukraine, patriotic songs play an important role in fueling a populist romantic nationalism. In contrast, I seek to capture official, private and hidden realities within communities that are excluded from the main historical narrative of the region. My main interest are those songs which describe ­in tragic, brutal and comic ways domestic abuse, murder, conflict, sex, love and hate. I want to show that the alternative folklore of the region: hard mountain rap, vintage feminism and filthy karpaty hip hop, is still alive and relevant, before it’s last inheritors disappear.

Since 2014, I have gathered an archive of photography, video and sound recordings, throughout western Ukraine. As opposed to traditional documentary practices, I prefer to describe my work as a folk opera; a collection of songs, stories, music, performance and field recordings, existing somewhere between an ethnographic document and musical theater.”