“Inshallah” (“God willing” in Arabic) is a project that explores the Soviet and American occupations of Afghanistan and draws on my childhood fantasies that romanticize the military and intertwine with my past and present personal conflicts.
As a Ukrainian, who was born in the Soviet Union and now living in the US, it is the second time that I live in the country that is fighting an endless war in Afghanistan.
In this project, I created a dark fairy tale filled with my fears and dreams, based on my fascination with the army’s strength and order, set on the front lines of what has become America’s longest running war in history. Mesmerized by the complexity of the Afghan chaos, I strive to better comprehend my personal relationship to these wars: two empires, two mentalities, same battlefield, twelve years apart.”
Dima Gavrysh