Tattoo of memory

Tattoo of memory

Tattoos are one of the ways we remember those we have lost. Words, images, colours, and details become symbols of love and sorrow. Tattoos help to preserve the memory of loved ones and make us feel that they are with us every moment.  

4 women who have decided to imprint their memories under skin tell their stories below.

Alla Karpenko, the girlfriend of the deceased Yevhen Bazylevskyi, a soldier of the 79th Separate Air Assault Brigade

“My boyfriend and I decided to get a tattoo together – one single word ‘resurgam’. Translated from Latin, it means ‘I will rise again’. It’s about our past, which has defined us, and about the things that allow us to move on from it and move forward. We were supposed to make it in January, but he died in December. I got my tattoo on 13 December 2023, exactly one year after our discussing. For me, the time, place, sketch, and artist played a very important role because I love symbolism. 

When I was asked about my first tattoo and what it meant, I said that I had 5,000 UAH of free money and the artist had 2 hours of free time. Now I can’t say that for sure, because my tattoo is full of symbolism.

The bee on the arm is about Zhenia and his path, because his first call sign was ‘Pchol’ (in English – a humorous name for a male bee) and this is where his story began. The story also ended with insects – he was resuscitated by a guy with the call sign ‘Bumblebee’. The bee is very close to my heart, as he was to mine.

memento moro – in memory of his sacrifice in the name of life and the fact that it can end at any moment. Zhenia had such a tattoo, and I decided to prolong the life of his sacrifice on myself. He got it on the day of his best friend’s funeral, and now his friend’s parents are helping me to get over the loss.

Heart – he often drew hearts on my arm with a pen, so I kept them forever. 

resurgam – to have the strength to survive this loss and continue to live and create in his memory.”

Olena ‘Lysytsia’ Herhel, a servicewoman at the 93rd Separate Mechanized Brigade “Kholodnyi Yar”, the wife of the fallen serviceman Vasyl ‘Siabro’ Parfenkov

“My husband deceased two years ago near Lysychansk. At that time, he was fighting in the Kastuś Kalinoŭski Regiment. He was from Belarus and was a political prisoner of the Lukashenko regime. In 2014, he came to Kyiv, where we met. He has been fighting in the OUN volunteer battalion since 2014. We have two children: Milan and Solomiia. When the full-scale war started, we agreed that we would get tattoos together. After the Victory. He wanted to get a tattoo of TDA, the ‘Tower of Donetsk airport’, and the Belarusian coat of arms Pahonia. After Vasyl’s death, I fulfilled his little dream. I got a tattoo of the Pahonia (the national emblem of Belarus): it’s an image of a knight on a horse, the only thing on the shield is a trident, because my husband was a Ukrainian with all his heart, but he dreamed of liberating not only Ukraine but also own Belarus. Now I am also in the army, in the patronage service of the 93rd Brigade.”

Hanna Demydenko, a public activist, a friend of the deceased soldier of the ‘Yashka Tsygankov’ 3rd Regiment of the Special Operations Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine 

“In March 2022, I received the news that my best friend had gone missing. It was a very difficult time, and I remembered that during our conversation about who would die first and how to get over it, I said that I would get a tattoo in his honour. This conversation took place in January 2022, when I was ill with Covid.

After the news of his possible death in the city of Izium, we tried to look for him, but, unfortunately, the situation did not allow us to go to the city where battles were and, later, – the occupiers. At some point, I realised that there could be an ‘arrival’ or something else and it was not safe to store information about the search and his likely location in electronic gadgets. So I decided to get a tattoo with a map of Izyum and the point the soldiers were pointing to. I added my friend’s medallion to the tattoo, which he always carried with him.

I hope he is alive and we will remember and laugh about the adventure, but, unfortunately, he will not return. For me, it’s a tattoo of despair, hope, and memory that will always be with me.”

Yordana ‘SWAT’ Svatko, a servicewoman at the 128th Mountain Assault Brigade

“I got the tattoo a month after my fiancé’s death. He died on 29.07.2022 near Soledar. This word is Latin, because we were looking for something that would be symbolic. ‘Custodia’ means ‘escort’ because before the full-scale war started, he served in compulsory military service and was a security guard.”

The project is implemented with the support of the European Union and the International Renaissance Foundation within the European Renaissance of Ukraine initiative.

#planb #veteranka #uwvm #EuroRenaissance #MovingTogether