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eng Automatic Translation

Grandfather's Valley

Masha Mаroz 2023
Installation: sound, video, coals, clay pots, eggs (Gallery "Untitled", Tbilisi, Georgia).

The audiovisual part of the installation is based on materials recorded in the cemetery of the village of Pogost (Belarus, Gomel region) during my research trip in April 2023. Local residents call this place "Grandfather's Valley" - a place full of legends, which is treated with great honor and respect.

In Belarus, the worlds of the living and the dead are inextricably linked and are in constant communication. To this day, people honor the memory of the dead in memorial rituals called "Dzyady" ("Grandmother and Grandfather") and "Radaunitsa". The living invite their deceased relatives from the other world to visit them, protect them, and give them strength.

The living offer the dead treats and ask them to contribute to their well-being and peaceful future.

In some villages, a separate fire is lit for each deceased person. Hot coals are brought in pots straight from the home stove and poured onto the graves. The pots are then smashed to pieces.

The old cycle ends for a new one to begin.