Day without number

“The plane crash occurred on May 16, 1972 in Svetlogorsk. An An-24 military plane fell on a kindergarten. In the crash, 35 people died — 24 children, 3 kindergarten employees, 2 passengers and 6 crew members of the An-24…By 21:00 on May 16, less than 9 hours after the disaster, the clearance of the rubble was completed: the wreckage of the plane and the remains of bodies were removed dead. 

By the morning of May 17, the construction of a small park on the site of the kindergarten was completed. In order to minimize publicity on the day of the funeral of the victims, trains were canceled and traffic on the roads connecting the regional center with Svetlogorsk was limited.”  

In researching and analyzing this disaster, I reflect on how far and at the same time close to each other childhood and tragedy can be. And about how important it is to live through trauma, personal and collective. Keeping the tragedy secret increases its volume, and as it expands, it seeps through the decades. I almost physically feel the pressure that can only be relieved by talking about this catastrophe, living it in the only way available to me — through art.