In June, Ukrainian female artists released the “Erotic Diary” 一 a book containing original texts, reproductions of photographs, graphics, and shots of art objects, as well as blank pages for notes and sketches. Kateryna Yakovlenko explains why this publication is important and how the war in Donbas and feminism relate to it.
“The idea to create the ‘Erotic Diary’ came a year ago. Do you remember the heated debates around the publication ‘Ukrainian Erotic Photography’ (the controversy arose around a photo by Sasha Kurmaz that appeared on the cover 一 the image was seen as objectifying the female body 一 Editor’s note)? The level of hate on social media was off the charts. At that time, I jokingly suggested on social media to participate in a small self-published brochure. And strangely 一 quite a few people wrote to me immediately. And in a conversation with the artist Alina Kleitman, the idea to make a diary appeared,” says the book’s author, designer, and photographer Dana Kosmina.
Many works for the publication were provided by the artists from their early practices, some were made specifically for the book. The illustrations are printed in such a way that they can easily become postcards sent to recipients.
Erotic images arise not only inside the publication; an important component is the visual solution: a red velvet cover with gold printing aptly and succinctly conveys the feeling of corporeality. This idea is revealed by the designer and author of the book Lera Huievska: “Our idea to publish a diary with postcard-works transformed into the format of an art book. With the blank pages, we invite the owners of our books to write, draw, and actively participate in filling the diary. For these blank pages, we chose coated paper with a delicate shade, and for the authors’ texts 一 different shades of flesh tones, because we are all different, as are our stories and experiences. The cover is made of red velvet, and on it 一 gold embossing: a logo with a female hand inviting into the world of erotic fantasies. However, I joke that velvet and gold 一 are my erotic fantasy as a graphic designer who usually works in a rather restrained style. The diary is feminine in every sense, even the font used for the text is called Lora.”
The “Erotic Diary” is dedicated to manifestations of eros and thanatos in contemporary Ukrainian society. When thanatos, which has taken the form of war, prevails, corporeality and sexuality become a kind of peacekeeping mission, a voice of nonviolence. The “Diary” is a successor to the published diaries of Gertrude Stein, Virginia Woolf, and other feminist writers who at different times experienced the horrors of war. Although the book by Ukrainian female artists does not directly address the war, their visual language cannot be perceived outside contemporary realities, without memories that any story is still written by men and is viewed in the context of heroic and liberating narratives.
However, as Kateryna Mishchenko, literary editor and author of the text, explains, this publication is not a way to talk about the war or criticize it, but rather an attempt to shift the military tone and emphasis on general mobilization, which prevails in our society, into a peaceful direction. “The book offers to start a dialogue on a different topic and thus reduce the degree of violence. Very often, women’s emancipation projects, LGBT voices, in one way or another, affirm a different view of reality, and in our case 一 the reality of non-war,” she explains.
“Most of the erotic product we observe in cinema and literature is an expansion of eros into different spheres, as opposed to focusing on the body as an object. Even today, phrases like ‘conquer’ and ‘subjugate’ persist in love language. This characterizes the view of erotica as a battlefield where someone is constantly fighting for someone else, measuring the quality, value, and beauty of another person. This book presents a different representation of sexuality,” notes curator and artist Oksana Bryukhovetska.
Often, artists turn to the image of nature, which itself, Bryukhovetska says, embodies the unity of eros and thanatos. However, one should not think that the images are limited to traditional depictions of flower heads. Flowers in the book “Erotic Diary” 一 are houseplants in Valentina Petrova’s photography; small wildflowers near the “bronze,” almost lifeless body of AntiGonna; shrubs growing near the feet of KotoUtka; or a flower with which the female body blooms in Alina Kopytsia’s graphic work.
The “Erotic Diary” is important in many ways. On one hand, it is an example of self-organization of female artists; on the other 一 an analytical approach to their own creativity and the creativity of their colleagues; and on the third 一 a reflection on the surrounding world, in particular on the position of a visual publication in the conditions of the Ukrainian book market. The very possibility of combining the format of a book, diary, and postcards allows expanding the audience: from those interested in Ukrainian art to those who perceive the book exclusively as a diary.
However, the diary format should not be understood too literally. The work of Ukrainian female artists subtly continues the feminist logic of one of Virginia Woolf’s most famous speeches “A Room of One’s Own” (1928), voiced for British schoolgirls. Woolf explains why no one can recall a single brilliant female writer from Great Britain, yet many name exclusively male names. For many women who wrote novels, the space of their creativity was limited to the confines of their own room, and their notes had the character of diaries 一 or were interpreted as such. So the diary is a format defined by politics and the established rules of the game in society.
One way or another, the opportunity to make one’s own entries allows initiating a dialogue between the diary’s audience and the artists, and the reader 一 herself or himself to become a participant in the project.
