Lately, the only signs that I was still around were reposts, and I’ve barely written anything personal. So today I finally wanted to write and say that I’m okay (even psychologically, haha 💀 — as much as that’s possible while Russians continue committing every imaginable crime against my fellow citizens).
I hope I’ll be able to return to my previous level of activity soon, because I truly loved interacting with the pro-Ukrainian community here 🫶
First of all, I want to finally thank you for all the support you’ve always shown my posts, no matter how long they were. I always loved reading your thoughts and stories, and I deeply appreciate that some of my texts were able to receive such responses.
As for why I suddenly disappeared, I’m currently working on a small memorial project whose subject deserves all the attention and respect I can give it. At the same time, I’ve also been working on the initial design of a commemorative pin for a future Day of Remembrance for Civilian Victims of Russian Aggression — an early sketch of which you can see below.
Those living in Ukraine already know that we currently have no official day dedicated specifically to commemorating civilian victims, and I’d also like to clarify this for my foreign moots. Civilians die in Ukraine every day, and we observe a nationwide minute of silence every morning.
However, there are days when the number of victims is especially high, and those occasions often become separate days of mourning.
Yet we still do not have an official national date dedicated to the memory of all civilian victims. There was a petition calling for the establishment of such a day, but unfortunately it never gained enough visibility among the public. As of now, the only official remembrance day specifically related to civilians is the Day of Remembrance for Children Killed as a Result of the Armed Aggression of the Russian Federation Against Ukraine, established in 2021.
Returning to the pin itself, my current goal is to try once again to raise awareness of this issue by producing a pin through one of the shops that specialize in creative and charitable projects. At the same time, I hope it could become something that offers people who have lost loved ones another way to support themselves and another means of personally expressing and preserving memory.
The design is not perfect yet, and of course there will be technical adjustments in the future regarding details and production requirements (I’ve already had several consultations and know where the weak points are). But I’ve always worked by the principle of creating the maximum level of detail first, so that simplification later doesn’t come at the expense of meaning.
Besides, with a subject like this, I’m simply not emotionally ready to create something that hasn’t been fully thought through and carefully considered. Every element here carries intention.
From the human figures, where I tried not to leave out any category of people, to the landscape below — because our people were killed not only in their homes, but also in fields, forests, and open spaces.
And to the fact that tears keep accumulating with every destroyed city, while the memory of people remains.
The ornament is not just a random collection of symbols either. I created it by encoding the word “civilians” through embroidery-inspired patterns. It may unfortunately need to be simplified for production in the future, but I wanted to highlight that detail while it is still present.
I will also try until the very last moment to preserve the idea of placing a photograph (roughly 3×4 cm) behind the candle. I want this feature to allow people to place a symbolic candle against the background of a place they can no longer return to — because it no longer exists, or because the city remains under occupation.
At the same time, there is another possible interpretation: someone could place a color sample matching the eye color of a loved one, preserving the memory of a familiar gaze.
And, of course, it would also be possible to place a photograph of the person who was lost.
At first, it may seem like the candle partially covering the photograph could be a problem. But knowing our mentality, where it is often difficult for us to speak openly about our losses, I feel that it creates a certain quiet sacredness around grief, even in the presence of others. People would know that a loss exists, yet their attention would not be drawn too directly to the face of someone else’s loved one.
So why am I writing about all of this at such an early stage of the project?
I’d like to ask for a small favor, if it’s not too much trouble.
Tumblr is currently my only active social media platform, but the shops I’m interested in mostly operate through Instagram (😭), and some of them don’t even provide direct contact options such as email. That means I’ll have to reach out from an Instagram account that I’ve barely used until now...
I’ve already had situations where people were hesitant to trust my inactive accounts (which I completely understand, especially these days 😮💨). So if possible, I’d like to ask you to maybe leave a like or even follow me there: @bozhedidko.
I’m not an active Instagram user, so I won’t be filling your feed with stories or posts. And honestly, I already feel awkward asking something like this from other people. But if I hadn’t already run into a few negative situations because of it, I wouldn’t be asking.
Since I’ll need to discuss production details and potential artistic revisions to the design (because, unfortunately, I had to use some stock imagery for elements such as the human figures, as I’m not an artist), I need my account to appear reliable and, haha, reasonably trustworthy 🫠
And with that, thank you if you made it all the way through this post.
I hope I’ll be able to come back with positive news❣️
