The Black Sea Whale №1

Ukrainians - like a Black Sea whale - did not exist for the international community. Hidden under the dark and stormy layer of propaganda, we have spent more than one century trying to swim out of the depths of the sea to the surface - to defend our true name and not be called "Little Russians", as the Russian Empire defined us, or "Soviet people" who were molded from us the Soviet Union.

The Black Sea Whale is a whale song from the raging waters of the (in)hospitable sea that washes the temporarily Russian-occupied Ukrainian Crimean Peninsula and the sovereign Snake Island. Carried by the current for thousands of kilometers, this song reaches different ends of the world and connects the past, present and future of Ukraine and its people with the history and present of Western civilization, which we have been a part of since ancient times.

Stories from this tertiary level are a second chance for the world: not just to listen, but to hear the sincere and true voice of Ukrainians, and to discover an authentic, not fake, Ukraine and its polyphony. They are about Ukrainian everyday life and distinctiveness, about who we were, who we are and who we can be. Some of them are so life-like that it is hard to believe, others are so fantastic that they are real. Sometimes they are ironically funny, sometimes even more sad, but always self-critical and reflect the lessons we have learned throughout life.