Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Monologue of a Master.
Promotion supported by the civic cultural campaign “Budzma!”
I believe that every one of us is born into this world with a certain mission to fulfill.
I don’t think that vycinanka is such a great mission, but it is what my whole life has led me to.
I have a feeling that I knew how to do it a long time ago, but I forgot and now I have to start from scratch.
My name is Volha Baburyna.
I’ve been a papercut artist for over 25 years and today vycinanka is a huge part of my life.
Roots.
Volha Baburyna, papercut artist, craftswoman, member of the Belarusian Folk Crafts Union.
In my works I limit myself in some ways.
Firstly, I try not to abuse the paper, try to respect its nature.
Secondly, I limit my technology to using scissors only.
Because if I have to cut out a space and I have a knife, it will be a totally different cut out.
Vycinanka technology requires the paper to be folded over many times first.
So when I use scissors, I end up with a paper cutting which is styled in a certain way.
When I am working on a papercut artwork, the main thing for me is to be honest with myself.
Only if I put my heart into the work, and if everything in me is in total agreement with it,
it will resonate with the audience.
When I took up the Declaration of Human Rights project,
I was challenged to combine things that are not readily compatible.
On the one hand, there was the international legal document,
and on the other hand, there was a traditional Belarusian folk craft.
And some points were not clear.
I could simply cut out popular, well-known images.
But it would be a lie...
I had to find the right kind of imagery,
which had to come from my heart and I had to feel that it was the God-given nature of things.
If this doesn’t happen, then the work means nothing to me,
it might as well end up in the wastepaper basket.
On the whole, my opinion is that we cannot preserve vycinanka the way it was back in the 1950s.
It simply cannot perform the same functions in modern interiors.
We need to borrow the principles, the fundamentals of the Belarusian vycinanka of the past,
and somehow translate them into the language of today.
This is an exact example of my efforts to turn traditional things into something which is relevant today.
It’s like when I make Christmas-tree decorations or earrings.
People get into it through the things they understand, like fridge magnets.
I was ashamed at first, but now I realize how good it is.
Because a person might come first for a magnet,
next time he or she might buy a postcard,
and the third time round they come to get one of my works.
What does it mean?
It means that in the mind of such a person this never-seen-before craft technique,
which impressed him or her on the magnet, has developed into an art form.
No matter what I do in my works,
I never forget the fact that my roots are here.
I like to cut out traditional Belarusian animals like the goat, the cat or the wolf.
But when I cut out some fantastic animal,
I try to do it, as would a person who has never seen anything like that before.
So that it should just be a strange animal that looks like an elephant, or something else like that.
But then again, all those images and motifs stem from certain Belarusian traditions.
They are born out of the energy of our Land, so to say.
Here’s one of my latest series of works.
It’s full of towers, trees, warriors and roots.
Those are the 4 images which I try to combine in my works in various ways.
For me, making a paper cutting,
be it an item for everyday use or a work of art, is always a spiritual experience.
Sometimes I’m gripped by a strong emotion, either positive or negative.
And if at that moment I start working with paper, I gradually calm down.
Later when I look at those works, I start to review these earlier emotions.
I begin to better understand myself.
Promotion of the Monologue of the Master Project supported by
the civic cultural campaign “Budzma!”.
Authors: Volha Zhukava Zmicier Rahachou
Camera: Edhar Hryshchuk
Director, editor: Volha Zhukava
Sound: Zmicier Vishniakou
Design: Volha Zhukava
Original idea: Volha Zhukava Zmicier Rahachou
Music for the title sequence by Zmicier Murashka
The episode features the following original tracks
by TROITSA: “Dubravushka” “Pa morachku”