If you had to pack your entire life into one bag what would you choose?
Feb 24 is a performance grounded in field recordings I made on the morning of Russia’s full-scale invasion, February 24, 2022.
As my past self quietly documents the moment and packs an emergency bag, my present self appears live before the audience—holding that same suitcase. Together, we unpack layers of physical and moral ground through sound, gesture, and memory.
‘Feb 24’
This performance opened VIDLIK FEST, a six-hour fundraising event I organized in collaboration with VIDLIK, a Ukrainian cultural organization working with youth in eastern Ukraine. The program featured collective film screenings—including The Street I Need and Kinobereg—readings of diary entries from Mariupol, and a Ukrainian pysanka (egg-painting) workshop.
The films shown at the festival were created by teenagers involved with VIDLIK. One of them was the young filmmaker whom we were able to help escape occupied Nova Kakhovka with her mother, thanks to the $900 raised that evening. Every dollar counts.
VIDLIK Projects
VIDLIK Projects is a cultural initiative founded by Yevheniia Vidishcheva that empowers youth in small towns and conflict-affected regions of Ukraine through documentary, performance, and community-based art. Their work creates spaces for young people to tell their stories, explore identity, and build solidarity through creative practice.
YOUKH & Kinobereg
At VIDLIK’s community hub, YOUKH (Kherson region), I directed, shot, and edited my first short film, Teneta (Nets), during their Kinobereg documentary residency. This two-week intensive brings together young filmmakers for hands-on workshops, mentorship, and community screenings—introducing participants to documentary storytelling while fostering a vibrant, creative local network.
The village of Oleksandrivka, home to the YOUKH hub and Kinobereg residency, was occupied by russian forces for eight months. Ukrainian forces have since liberated it, but the area is heavily mined and impossible to visit safely. These memories of a once-vibrant community remain all the more precious.
The Street I Need (2022)
The Street I Need is a youth-led video essay project by VIDLIK, featuring 20 teenagers from cities including Kharkiv, Kyiv, Sumy, Kakhovka, and Kramatorsk. The works explore war, home, and resilience through personal narratives, animation, and music. As cultural manager, I helped bring these stories to international audiences, including screenings in Washington, D.C. and at Columbia University.