The Dead Pool Won’t Ripple
A minimalist stack of used cartridge cases visualizes the fragilities and fortitudes of the LGBT+ community and the pro-militarist discourse in today’s Ukrainian reality. The work is based on the tragic story of an activist from Odessa, who was the owner of Tema, a legendary Odessa nightclub. He went to the front as a volunteer when the military actions started in the East of Ukraine, and never came back.
The constituent cartridges have a tendency to scatter upon firing—chaotically covering the ground, trudged upon, left to rust. In vertically piling the cartridges, Karabinovych transforms something deemed expendable into something intrinsic. Casualties assume a new, vertical, towering formation. Though each cartridges are cast from the same mould, they each retain subtle differences in color and texture.
In short, each cartridge has its own skin—a skin that shines, a skin that camouflages, a skin that catches the light just so.