24 November 2023 Friday
Hi Orhan,
There’s no stress or conundrum here. When I accepted the invitation/request from the curator/architect of the STAR VENGEANCE exhibition at GES-2 House of Culture, Moscow, to include my “Timepiece of Humanity” in the exhibit, I went along with participating because (the message of) The Timepiece of Humanity would potentially reach a very large audience. I also knew that the ‘politically correct’ response to the exhibition request would be to say no to participating in ‘protest’ to Russia’s war on Ukraine, but, because both my parents were in Soviet forced-labor concentration camps in Southern Ukraine 1945-1949, I saw my participation being done with impunity and my work being exhibited also as atonement for what my parents were forced to do.
With all that came also the hope that (the message of) The Timepiece of Humanity might somehow have some effect toward something good happening—instead of not participating in protest, I saw participating as actually providing the potential opportunity to do something toward a greater good.
As you can now easily surmise, it was late Wednesday night when I ultimately came to realize why The Timepiece of Humanity is now on exhibit in Russia. If Russia’s Supreme Court decides to outlaw any expression of LGBTQ rights, then The Timepiece of Humanity has to be banned, thus making it clear that the Russian government also continues to abuse my family, as well as, of course, the LGBTQ community at large.
On the other hand, if the Russian Supreme Court does not outlaw expression of LGBTQ rights and The Timepiece of Humanity continues to be on exhibit, then The Timepiece of Humanity will have, at least, played some part in (victorious?) support of LGBTQ rights.
Steve
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