Solastalgic Soliloquy (2020)

Single-channel digital video
05:27 minutes

Solastalgic Soliloquy was filmed in Glasgow, Scotland; the Ukrainian Cultural Centre in Saskatchewan, Canada; the outskirts of Berlin, Germany and Białowieża Forest in Poland (the last primal forest in Europe). Traditional dance is utilized as an apparatus to convey the way that folkloric traditions cease to exist in their originary formats amidst generational slippage, disconnected from a ‘natural’ environment and removed from a congregation. It displays generational slippage as my muscle muscle memory fails and fragments. Leaning on symbolism, I present a wax wreath out of church candles, those lit for ancestors passed. This scene illustrates the dangers of restorative nostalgia and sentimentalizing the past. Meditating on Sayat Nova’s poetry, I meditate: “How am I to protect my wax built castles of love from the devouring heat of your flames?” Considering Svetlana Boym’s dualistic interpretation of nostalgia, I consider ethical approaches to looking back amidst this generational amnesia.

Chandlery Anika Ahuja & Paige Silverman
Camera Soojin Chang & Nicholas Dmyterko