Vanitas Vanitatum

Kurt Vonnegut tells his wife he's going out to buy an envelope: "Oh, she says, well, you're not a poor man. You know, why don't you go online and buy a hundred envelopes and put them in the closet? And so I pretend not to hear her. And go out to get an envelope because I'm going to have a hell of a good time in the process of buying one envelope. I meet a lot of people. And see some great looking babies. And a fire engine goes by. And I give them the thumbs up. And I'll ask a woman what kind of dog that is. And, and I don't know. The moral of the story is - we're here on Earth to fart around. And, of course, the computers will do us out of that. And what the computer people don't realize, or they don't care, is we're dancing animals. You know, we love to move around. And it's like we're not supposed to dance at all anymore.

It's eating breakfast and reading about a whole family that was killed by ruzzian drone in their own house. An engaged couple that was to be married next week, his parents and his sister. All dead.

It's taking a break, and seeing the news of a 10y.o. girl whose heart stopped. Her body sustained 70% of burns, and she fought hard, but ruzzia still killed her.

It's about a whole street in Sumy being in ruins after aerial bomb ruzzians send. It's seeing a mess of glass and debris left by a Shahed in the apartment of a young mom. It's constant torrential downpour of victims from Kherson, Nicopol, Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia, Kharkiv, Donetsk region. It's horror stories from occupation and captivity.

And then I hear "we are going to war! To get concert tickets". And I hear "ruzzian games are weird and fun!" And "oh, that new tv show/movie featuring ruzzians is so cool!", and another celebrity in some way shows a support for the fuckers that we see do monstrous things every day.

Kharkiv National Medical University launched fundraising for Nnani’s medical care:

Monobank jar: send.monobank.ua/jar/32wXvi1jGj

Also donate to Come Back Alive to lower the chance of things like that happening again:

https://savelife.in.ua/en/donate-en/#donate-army-card-once

they're talking about how they're no longer interested in dating because their female friends treat them better than boyfriends do. they're realizing that being single is always better than being in a bad relationship. it's becoming a lot more normal and fun and hot for women to be single at any age. the women who have settled down with truly good men in truly happy relationships are encouraging other women to not take any shit because the right man won't need to be "trained". they're talking about how their mothers and grandmothers warned them to get a job and not get married, and they followed the advice.

If Ukrainians are not allowed to live without the context of war, which inevitably creates questions about it — why do Russians have this privilege?

It is not ukrainophobic / xenophobic / racist to ask us questions — acknowledging our existence within this context.

I have had so many Europeans ask me about the war in the first minute of our conversation and some questions are kind of fucked up. A colleague asked me if any of my family members died during our first conversation when I started a new job. Recently I've been to Amsterdam for holidays and I heard a Dutch woman ask a cashier where she is from. When she answered Latvia, the question that followed was "Do you think russia will occupy you soon?" Not attack, not invade, occupy. It carries more pain for countries fighting for independence from russia.

Like, these are not small talk questions and especially not in a work environment. And especially not when that person is working in retail/restaurant/cafe because the workers are required to smile and keep everything light and positive to leave a positive impression about the brand/company.

Don't get me wrong, you can ask questions, just know that there is time and place to do so and some questions are probably not the best for first conversations with a random person.

But all in all, if you don't see a problem with this, then you should be actively asking questions about the war to every russian you meet. Yes, every single one because you don't seem to be sparing Ukrainians of constantly talking about the war. Our whole existence is drenched in and defined by the war, so I feel like we should even out the playing ground and just start asking russians questions like "Does anyone from your family is committing genocide in Ukraine?" and "Are you still monetarily tied to russia/are you still paying taxes in russia/do you send money to your relatives in russia?"

But when I see westerners just reposting russian art without question, supporting them, promoting them, watching shows with them, praising the culture, I wonder, in my poor sensitive heart, if they ever even think to ask that question. Does this artist support the genocide of Ukrainians? Does this person think it's acceptable to attempt to freeze and destroy an entire nation of people? Do they feel the accountability?

Because they should.

Ideally, no interaction should go without this question at the very least.

Because, for god's sake, if idiots can ask me whether the war in Ukraine is still going on, if they can project their own beliefs onto my people, a "poor ordinary russian" will not explode from being held accountable for their country's actions, for their elected (!) and supported (fully damn documented support too!) leader, for genocides committed and the denial of them.

The russians. Will not. Explode. From. Too much. Accountability.

Without further ado:

Ivan Aivazovsky: an Appropriated Ukrainian Armenian Marinist

Let's start with the fact that his name was not Ivan Aivazovsky; his real birth name was Hovhannes Aivazian (Armenian: Հովհաննես Այվազյան), and he was a son of an Armenian merchant from Galicia, a region that has historically had a large Armenian population. Aka, a Galician Armenian. Even that name spelling is Galician, too.

The inside of the Armenian Cathedral of the Assumption of Mary in Lviv (I've been there!)

Then why on earth do we even call him Ivan Aivazovsky, you ask? Good question!

To conform to the Russian-speaking environment of the Russian Empire, of course.

Why did he study in Saint Petersburg, then? Cause everyone and their mother did, since they literally had zero choice. No, seriously. Russian Empire didn't allow an academy of arts to be established in Ukraine, so most prominent Ukrainian artists at the time were forced to study in Saint Petersbourg. That's where he was first called Ivan, btw.

The artist himself didn't want to live in Saint Petersburg at all (a trait that you will actually find common across Ukrainian artists and cultural figures forced to live and study there). He loved Feodosia (Theodosia), Crimea, above all else, and even divorced his first wife due to not wanting to live in so called "cultural capital".

Can't really blame him, personally.

"But he painted russia!" Someone will say.

He was appointed as an official Russian Navy painter. It was his job. And aside from his literal job, he seldom painted russian landscape. You know what landscape and whose traditions he did paint a lot, though?

Uh-huh. Yeah.

Just look at this:

A Wedding in Ukraine. 1892.

You can tell it is a Ukrainian landscape, not even by the name, but by the white houses with thatched roofs and the clothes on the people, but also by the rather symbolic prevalence of blue and yellow (trust me, we'll return to that)

Don't believe me? Okay, here's another one:

Chumaks (Ukrainian salt merchants) in Malorossya (russian imperial name for Ukraine). 1890

You know what, there is one very peculiar painting of russia, though. One that was actually gifted by the artist himself to Emperor Nicholas I and that for some strange reason was only exhibited twice in russia:

Fire in Moscow. 1812 (quite possibly one of my favourite of his paintings for a reason)

The freaking irony? Burning Moscow? Gifted to its emperor?? Blue and yellow?

Oh. My. God!

Add to the fact that, as I've said, the work was exhibited in russia only twice: at the exhibition immediately after its painting and at the Tretyakov Gallery in 2016 at the exhibition dedicated to the 200th anniversary of the artist.

I wonder why.

Not to mention the author criticised russia in other paintings, such as this one, describing a famine in russia that they couldn't stop without the help of the USA:

Food Distribution. 1892

This one and another one, "The Relief Ship" or The Arrival of the Steamer "Missouri", 1892, were actually fully forbidden from being exhibited in russia, probably because they're a reminder of the worthlessness of the monarch who provoked the famine.

But of course, we love Aivazian for his marine paintings. I know you've probably all seen The Ninth Wave, but there are some I would rather introduce you to.

Crimean Tatars on the Seashore. 1850

This one showcases Aivazian's connection to Crimean Tatars, or Qırımtatarlar, the indigenous people of Crimea, Ukraine. Plus, what a breathtaking sunset. I long for the Black Sea just from looking at it, and it's hard for me to even imagine how a displaced Qirimli must feel 🫂

Valley of Mount Ararat. 1882

This one is not of the sea, but there's something so profound in how he paints his historical homeland. Look at these colours. They're soft, gentle, almost.

I am not Armenian, but that's probably how I'd paint the homeland I miss. Speaking of that:

Reeds on the Dnieper near the town of Oleshki. 1857

Dnipro. My sweet, sweet Dnipro. I live next to this river, and God, how much I miss it all the time studying abroad. There's nothing quite like that river to me in he whole wide world. (Notice the blue and yellow again btw?)

Last but not least, to feed into my second obsession:

Battle of Cesme at Night. 1848

Cause I want to and I will make a fanart of the Burning of the Ships from the Silmarillion based on this one, that's why.

So, in conclusion:

1. Hovhannes Aivazian was born into a family of a Ukrainian Armenian.

2. He didn't really have much choice in studying in Saint Petersburg, a city he hated, and changing his own name.

3. His job was painting russian military ships (and we all know where these go), but his own paintings depict lives of Ukrainians (with the whole blue and yellow theme), Qirimli and Armenians, as well as criticism of the Russian Empire (the burning Moscow one is insane).

So now you know why Hovhannes Aivazian is a Ukrainian Armenian painter, or at least no less so than a russian one, if not more.

Hey! Apparently I write articles on decolonising Ukrainian art now, too! You should check this one out, it's about Malevych!

Thanks for reading!

This is only in relation to Ukraine and Russia, but like Ukraine using drones to attack Russian oil facilities... even it it constitutes a war crime, Russia literally captured a nuclear facility in Ukraine in 2022 and still holds it. So it's like... is the same act always the same thing? Ukraine is specifically attacking Russian refineries to make it harder for them to continue invading Ukraine and committing war crimes (torture and murder of civilians, abduction and forced assimilation of children). Also I can tell you a plenty of people DO consider Ukraine fighting back to be a war crime but not Russia invading and attacking in the first place. Because they fucking suck! white = anglo

You are simply waiting for the moment when your good Russia stops doing “not very nice things”, so that you can once again love it openly and without worry.

You are upset that this time the world so unpleasantly decided to pay attention to the deaths of Ukrainians —

not good people,

who are being killed by good people,

just doing it in a not very good way.

After all, in the past those good people knew how to commit genocide properly —properly meaning quietly — like the Holodomor.

So that later they could at least try to lie and pretend it wasn’t intentional.