Translated from Ukrainian by Zoya Hayuk, and edited by Katherine Younger. Rochester NY: University of Rochester Press
Isidor Leitch and Ann Komaromi discuss:
AK: For your zine on Marynovych’s memoir you created a distinctive theatre stage frame - why?
IL: For me the stage was an important way to emphasize the Behind Barbed Wire aspect, as well as being a creative vehicle to pull out certain moments of Marynovych's life to highlight. It also refers to the moment Marynovych and his companions get on stage and publicly recite Taras Shevchenko's work, and it acts as a moment of togetherness. Theatre has many roles: while Marynovch's theatre was one stifled by Soviet repression, this theatre is vibrant and Ukrainian. The Barbed Wire may still be here to separate Marynovch from us, but we the viewers can take this reenactment, separated by time, and celebrate, as Marynovych celebrated, the joy in distinctly Ukrainian resistance, because there is joy in seeing a little paper theatre, and there is joy in resistance, and standing up for what is right, one that exists alongside the pain.
AK: Was it hard for you as a non-Ukrainian to imagine the world Marynovych described? What did you feel you could convey about his world and experience with a zine?
IL: Despite being in no way Ukrainian, Marynovych's world was as wholly real to me as my own. I wanted to convey the passion of his world through my zine, but also the way in which he was stifled. The set thus holds him back, while still allowing us to look in. Marynovch shows so much love and care toward Ukrainian festivals, traditions, and identity and I wanted to replicate that visually with equal love. He is not afraid to be proud of where he is from, and in that he shows a remarkable nationalism without xenophobia, one that opens its arms rather than closes doors. I think that this passion, and the personal nature of it fit a zine very well. He was not hosting state sponsored events, instead he had his own community, and that is what zine are for.
AK: Your zines showcase your skills in painting and creative zine design. Do you think students need to have established expertise in these areas to make an effective zine?
IL: These skills are definitely not required! Zines and zine culture is all about freeing ourselves from limitations, whether that be limitations of subject matter or of skill. Zines come in all formats as well. Some zines are entirely image-based with little to no text, and some are entirely text with no images. What I would tell any students interested in making zines, or working on one for a project, is to look at the zines people share online and truly take in the variety of forms that exists within them and let that inspire them. Zines have always been a place to explore without constraint, and all they require is whatever one has on hand. So, allow yourself to be creative, you never know what you might learn!
