Maria Shesiuk
This composition is a meditation on Mark Isaac’s and Gabriela Bulisova’s experiences in Siberia. We have never met in person so all of our interaction has taken place in the form of writing, photography, and music.
Working on this composition in a collaborative fashion made me very aware of the interconnectedness of our artistic endeavors. We have many strange and wonderful connections, but Siberia is particularly interesting. As they document the effects of climate change on Lake Baikal their photographs draw me into Siberia’s beauty. However, my connection to it is a dark one. Under Stalin's regime many of my relatives were sent from Ukraine into forced labor camps in Siberia. Not all came back alive.
In this piece I incorporated the field recordings that Mark and Gabriela sent me from their daily life in Siberia. I combined them with my heavily processed vocals. The vocals are foggy and distant with an underlying melody that changes only in subtle ways representing how I “see” Siberia in my mind.