The main topic of my reflections is the visual culture of the Holodomor from 1948 to 2018. I aim to analyze the process of bestowing a specific sacral significance on the Holodomor's experience for Ukrainians' national identity. Since a monument is seen as the catalyst for such social processes in memory studies, my analysis's scope includes monuments and memorials that commemorate the Holodomor.
My presentation is devoted to commemorating the Holodomor's specifics and uniqueness in distinction to the commemoration of other historical traumas. It looks at various aspects of monumental architecture, starting with the Ukrainian architectonic symbolic tradition and continuing to consider the sources of inspiration, the means of creating memorial constructs in a symbolic dimension. Finally, the characteristic traits of monuments commemorating the Holodomor's victims are shared regardless of their creation's time and place.
I will present my theoretical considerations on an example issue of using Ukrainian 'realms of memory' (Taras Shevchenko poetry and Orthodox Symbols) in the Holodomor's visual culture. I am interested in how the creators of memorial sites connect these symbols with the Holodomor and why they do it. How the 'communities of memory' and artists involved in creating 'places of memory' interpreted them.
