“The Next Morning, the Birds Started Singing and I Realized That Silence Had Come”

STORIES “The Next Morning, the Birds Started Singing and I Realized That Silence Had Come.” The Story of an Artist Who Survived the Occupation of Bucha Ivan Chernichkin Painting by Igor Prokofiev September 19, 2022

Igor Prokofiev was originally from Chernivtsi, but at the age of sixteen, he moved to Kyiv to work and learn painting from the famous Kyiv artists Vasyl Zabashta and Viktor Zaretsky. Photo: Olia Koval

In Soviet times, Igor managed to work at a defense plant, was engaged in industrial design in the army, where he served, and was the head of the library club. He exhibited a lot in Moscow and took part in competitions. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, he stayed in Kyiv because he understood that his homeland was there, his family and friends were there. Photo: Olia Koval

The parents of Prokofiev's wife had a house in Bucha on Lugova Street. They spent every summer there, Igor's children grew up in this house. Before the coronavirus pandemic, the building was used as a summer house. And with the beginning of the epidemic, Ihor and his wife moved there for permanent residence. In this house, Igor met the beginning of the war and the occupation. Photo: Olia Koval

Zaborona visited Ihor Prokofiev at home and took a walk with him through Bucha. And also talked with the artist about how creativity helped him survive the terrible moments of the occupation.

"On March 2, I had an exhibition opening St. Sophia of Kyiv. On the morning of February 24th, I was going to go to Kyiv to get a banner. I got a call and was told: "War! War!" Then it seemed to me that the Russians would be stopped somewhere there, at the borders, as, let's say, it was before. I went to Kyiv but never got to this printing company. I was already walking back from "Bilshovyk" ("Shulyavska" metro station) to "Svyatoshyn". I managed to catch the last train," the artist recalls the first day of the war. Photo: Ivan Chernichkin

In the early days, he was most worried about his dogs, trying to find food for them. Then he went through the Russian checkpoint to pet stores for food. But one of them, an English setter, could not be saved: he died during the occupation. Photo: Olia Koval

As Prokofiev recalls, the first large-scale battle in Bucha took place somewhere on March 27 or 28. Russian armored column and landing units broke into the city center. Ukrainian troops, using rockets and airstrikes, stopped them and did not allow them to advance to Irpin. Video: Olia Koval

"One of the crazy fights was near here, on Vokzalna Street. When I heard these explosions, I opened the door. It was from that side. But the blast wave hit the door, the door hit me. I was thrown through the whole house. Then I went up to the attic to look, but everything was in flames and smoke."

During the occupation, four more people remained with Igor on Lugova Street. Everyone else left Bucha, although, as Prokofiev recalls, many residents remained on his street at the beginning of the invasion. Painting by Igor Prokofiev

In the morning, they all gathered in Igor's open kitchen to cook breakfast on the fire. After that, they went about their business, and in the evening they gathered again for dinner. They listened to the radio to learn at least some information about events in the country. The days were similar, and sometimes it seemed to Igor that he was engaged in winter tourism, only there was killing around. Photo: Olia Koval

Several times, when the artist went to look for food for his dogs, he communicated with the Russian military. He recalls that in most cases it was the military who wanted to talk, not him. Photo: Olia Koval

There was nothing to talk about with the Russians, and Igor had doubts about their intellectual abilities. He remembered only one conversation with a soldier from the Altai region, who told the artist that he would be ashamed to tell the children that he was fighting with Ukraine for 3,000 roubles.

A group of 15 soldiers came to Prokofiev's yard on Lugova Street during the land clearing. They were different from those standing at the roadblocks. They were well equipped and had modern weapons. But they looked like children, even though they had beards. Photo: Olia Koval

The military men were aggressive, looking for weapons. But, after entering the artist's house and seeing everywhere the paintings, they became less aggressive. They began to ask where Prokofiev was exhibited and how much his paintings cost. Photo: Olia Koval

"In general, during the occupation, it was difficult to find an artist in myself. I realized that I had become a person who needed to survive. When I walked the streets, I often saw something very impressive, scary. And these images were imprinted in my memory. Then, when it was all over, I started drawing these amazing moments. There are quite a lot of them, you just have to somehow remove them from yourself. Because they do not give me peace," says the artist.

Prokofiev has many such memories: the first civilian he saw killed on the streets of Bucha, memories of the exhumation of Bucha residents in the cemetery near the Church of St. Andrew already after the de-occupation. Photo: Olia Koval

"That's a lot of plastic bags, and you know what's in them. These are someone's parents, wives."

Painting by Igor Prokofiev

For Igor, a separate symbol of occupied Bucha became "kravchuchki" — a kind of trolleys for goods. An indispensable attribute of Bucha residents. Hikes in search of food, then queues for humanitarian aid, and there were these "trolleys" everywhere. Photo: Olia Koval

"What is interesting is that during the occupation there is still some sense of freedom because you do not worry about the image: both external and your own, because everyone is equal here. Cars do not drive. A bicycle is a luxury. By the way, I got acquainted with neighbors whom I have never even met" , Prokofiev says with cheerful sadness.

The artist started painting most of his works during and after the occupation. The series dedicated to Bucha has about 20 paintings. But a large number are still unfinished. Photo: Olia Koval

"Because you start painting and it is like an expression. You have thrown out a piece of your soul, and then you just need to do something technically. And technically it is already difficult because you need to throw out something else." Photo: Olia Koval

Prokofiev captures what he saw around him during the occupation. Without fantasies and reflections. Just as it is. The artist sometimes scolds himself for the aesthetics on the canvas. His main goal is to make a document. Photo: Olia Koval

"We saw a lot of terrible things here — pictures that lie in the mind. It happened when we saw the first killed here, then we were going to the market, and we saw the second or third, then we stopped counting them. It's very hard, you want to erase them from your mind. So I decided to paint something because it will not give me peace in the future."

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