This app accompanies Irina Bondarenko’s installation Guardian Passage. As you encounter each tile in the installation, you will see a sgraffito image on one side and a poetic inscription on the other. The app will guide you through the installation by providing information corresponding to each tile: the artist’s reflection describing her interpretation of the motanka guardian figure and choice of poem, the poem in the original Ukrainian, translations of poetic texts in English, and readings of the poems in Ukrainian and English.

In Ukrainian tradition, Motanka, a small female-looking doll, occupies a special place. The name, "Motanka," comes from the Ukrainian verb “motaty” (to spin), which relates the process of making these dolls by spinning textiles from old family clothes. One of the distinct characteristics of motanka-dolls is the absence of facial features. Instead, there is a cross formed by two ribbons or an empty face. Without facial features, a Motanka can be "nobody" or "everybody" and in this way she is entrusted as a protector. For centuries, Motanka-dolls were endowed with the power to protect a family from trouble. This soft and feminine toy does not look threatening to the viewer. However, it encapsulates the motherly ability to shelter and protect.

Translators: Alex Foreman, Julie Gershusnskaya, Alyssa Dinega Gillespie, Olena Jennings, Grace Mahoney, Oksana Maksymchuk, Oksana Rosenblum, Max Rosochinsky Readers: Nicole Arruda, Graham Atkin, Irina Bondarenko, Eugene Bondarenko, Mariana Burak, Julie Gershusnskaya, Carol Gray, Anna Kovalenko, Grace Mahoney, Eugene Surdutovich, Osip Surdutovich, and Iryna Vorobiova. App Design and Development: Juan Jose Arzac

Some images:

Links: