Solomiya magazine on publishing and war
I’m a big fan of Solomiya magazine. Considering it purely as a piece of publishing it’s seriously impressive; a magazine that draws upon the work of artists, writers, and activists across Ukraine and beyond, it provides a platform for their responses to Russia’s invasion. Each issue has reflected a different tone, from energetic defiance, through to weary resignation, and the current issue changed again, shifting the focus to the Ukrainian landscape and taking a broader, more-than-human perspective on the war and its effects.
But of course it’s impossible to separate Solomiya magazine from the context in which it’s being made, and when it’s seen in that light, “impressive” suddenly becomes an inappropriate description of what they’re doing.
The video below shows our recent Magazine Club evening with the team, and you’ll see them telling the story of how they found each other in the early days of the full-scale invasion, and how their creative collaborations quickly turned into the first issue of the magazine. It’s a fantastic story, and I was having a great time speaking with them, hearing more about the making of the latest issue, which we delivered to Stack subscribers in February.
But then Vsevolod Kazarin and Andrii Ushytskyi, two of the magazine’s editors, mentioned that they’re going to turn 25 in the coming months, which means they will be eligible for conscription. Of course they’re both frightened of what that would mean for them, and Andrii connected his fear to the visceral impact the war has had on him so far:
“In a way this war has managed to get into my body… For example I’m now very sensitive to seeing blood on a screen, or when I even hear the word ‘blood’, because I get this very tense feeling in my stomach. Or when I hear loud noises I immediately perceive it as danger, because of all the explosions in Kyiv. I think it’s very interesting how war literally changes the way you move and the way your body operates.”
These are the sort of responses that I could imagine are common to anybody has who has had to live through war. Except he was also using them to reflect on what might come in the fifth issue of the magazine, wondering aloud about how ‘Bodies’ might make for an interesting theme.
I think this is what makes Solomiya magazine so special. The ability to not just endure these conditions, but to reflect upon them and create a space for other people to share their own original and thought-provoking interpretations is genuinely extraordinary. As Vsevolod and Andrii turn 25 the pressure will increase even more, but I hope they’ll manage to stay safe, and keep on publishing this exceptional magazine.
