This second part of the ongoing project „40x30x20“ focuses on the changes observed at Arcadia Beach in 2023.

The project "40x30x20" explores the transformations that have occurred during the period of russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. I focus on the beach as both, a witness, and a subject of these profound changes. 

When I returned to Odesa in 2023, the beach had changed once again. The shoreline was strewn with fragments of buildings, trees, and reeds—remnants carried by the water following russia’s destruction of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Station in the Kherson region. This act, an ecocide, was carried out by the aggressors on June 6, 2023, displacing 16,000 people and affecting around 80 settlements in the disaster zone.

As an uncontrolled surge of water swept through vast areas, it flooded agricultural land, nature reserves, and residential regions. The catastrophe resulted in the loss of human lives, the destruction of flora and fauna, and significant environmental pollution.

This ecological disaster is a stark reminder of how a single act of destruction can trigger a chain reaction, impacting areas hundreds of kilometers away and leaving an enduring scar on nature that may take decades to heal.

The works depict reeds washed ashore, yet their presence was fleeting—within a week, they had vanished. The stacks of reeds are rendered as nearly empty forms, devoid of intricate detail. Only faint pencil lines within the shapes hint at the stalks of reeds. This sketch-like format emphasizes the idea of impermanence, of something that arrives and disappears, while also underscoring the importance of remembrance.

Arcadia Beach has become a layered “space of memory,” a silent witness to both loss and resilience.

As of July 20, 2023, the destruction of the Kakhovka Dam and subsequent flooding had claimed the lives of 31 people.

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