The Art of War Diary

During the seminar, the social anthropologist Nataliya Tchermalykh will introduce her forthcoming monograph, tentatively titled Shifting Landscapes: An Anthropology of Art and War, to be published by UToronto Press in 2025.

The seminar will explore different aspects of diary-keeping, particularly during times of war, through an anthropological lens. Why do people feel the urge to document their experiences by keeping diaries? What kind of anthropological object is a wartime diary? Tchermalykh will offer a dual perspective on diaries: viewing them as unique anthropological inscriptions that capture the intimate (or the ex-timate?), extraordinary, and extreme experiences, while also recognizing them as unstable anthropological artifacts that, under external political and historical forces, develop their own trajectories and biographies, undergoing multiple transformations.

The discussion will trace the evolution of diary-keeping from the Enlightenment through modernity, with a focus on the often overlooked non-text-based forms of wartime diaries, particularly those produced by Ukrainian artists since 2014. By adopting an ethnographic approach to this multi-modal material-including text, photographs, sketches, watercolors, and video recordings—Tchermalykh will uncover less-explored dimensions of the diaristic practice. This seminar offers a new perspective on diary-keeping as a method and a source for anthropological theorization, uncovering new dimensions such as abstract thinking, metaphorical elaboration, and relational imagination within the diaristic space.

The seminar will take place in English, with the discussion conducted in Ukrainian.

Credits

Cover photo: Fragment of the image is taken from Polina Verbytska's Migrant Sketchbook (2022), shared with permission.

Gallery: Yelyzaveta Bobrova