Yevhenii Poliakov

In the project The First Months of the War: A Calendar of Emotions, Yevhenii Poliakov aims to analyze the emotions Lviv residents experienced between February and April 2022 to create a visual representation of changes in the collective mood over time. 

By analyzing archived diaries at the Lviv Center for Urban History, Poliakov intends to identify the linguistic strategies diarists used to express their inner states, classify these expressions according to a predefined vocabulary of emotions, and build a day-by-day   digital database that will display the intensity and dynamics of early wartime feelings. This tool will help us to understand how personal states and expectations were shaped by developments in politics and on the frontline.

My project Dream-Work in the War is an audio collage about dreams that Ukrainians have had during the war. I want to show how the war penetrates into people’s unconscious, fracturing and rearranging it and demonstrate how people cope with war-related pressure.  

As an allegedly chaotic collection of fragments with a subtle sense that needs to be restored, collage is an ideal form for a documentary about dreams. I came to this conclusion after studying theories on meanings and functions of dreams. Neuroscientist Mark Solms showed that we experience dreams due to the secretion of dopamine, the brain’s chemical for motivation. He confirmed the Freudian idea that despite their randomness, dreams reveal what drives us. They highlight the feelings that underlie our days and nights. If these emotions are negative, dreams help us process them. The method of dream interpretation is still widely used in psychotherapeutic practices. I believe that my documentary could have not only cultural but also therapeutic value. Culture that helps us deal with our trauma is an asset in times of war.