TIFF OPEN 2020: HAYTARMA BY JUSTYNA GÓRNIAK
Crimea was annexed by Russia in March 2014. It was followed by the referendum that was not accepted by the authorities of most of the countries. The majority of the Crimean Tatars, indigenous inhabitants of the peninsula, boycotted the vote. Thousands of them were forced to leave the Crimea because of the fear of reprisals.
An estimated twenty thousand of the Crimean Tatars live as an internally displaced expatriate in mainland Ukraine. About twenty, mostly religious, families from Crimea live in Drohobych in the west part of the country. From “strangers” they have become neighbors, and the everyday life in Drohobych is intertwined with the cultivation of Crimean Tatar traditions and customs.
The identity of Crimean Tatars is strongly associated with the Crimea. In 1944, by the decision of the Soviet authorities, about two hundred thousand Crimean Tatars were forcibly displaced from their home to Central Asia. Only recently, they were able to return to their lost homeland at the turn of the 1980s and 1990s.
Those who are now living in exile as a result of Russia's annexation of Crimea feel that they have once again been deprived of their historic homeland. However, the experience of previous generations allows them to be patient and stay sure that one day they will return home. The powerlessness in the face of geopolitics has not weakened the strength of the community.
Haytarma is a traditional Crimean Tatar dance, the name of which can be translated as "return".
Curator: Kama Wróbel
2-26.09.2020
organiser: TIFF Festival / TIFF Center
tiff.wroc.pl
exhibition photos: Jerzy Wypych