Eyelashes and Sand Crystals / work in progress

DARYNA MAMAISUR

FILMS

Eyelashes and Sand Crystals
work in progress

Smoke of the Fire

I Stumble Every Time I Hear From Kyiv

Sometimes It’s Cool, Sometimes It’s Not

It Does Not Sting

a steppe with rabbits and pheasants running around, and where some even saw foxes. part 2

movements around a familiar dream

OTHER PROJECTS

a steppe with rabbits and pheasants running around, and where some even saw foxes. part 1

Developing Human Capital, Building a Better Future

Sugar Sweet

COLLABORATIONS

Mosaics
work in progress

How Far Is Close

BIO

CV

Eyelashes and Sand Crystals

work in progress

Ukraine | 25’ | 2025 | pre-production | experimental documentary

The Herbarium of Kherson State University is one of the largest collections of lichens, vascular, and bryophyte plants from southern Ukraine and Crimea. The collection, mostly formed by scientists over the last 50 years, is now carefully packed and stored in the Carpathian National University in Ivano-Frankivsk. It was evacuated there by the team of the Kherson University after the deoccupation of the city, to protect it from destruction due to prolonged shelling. The film Eyelashes and Sand Crystals focuses on the unique case of the "herbarium in exile" and the work of scholars who continue collecting samples despite lacking a place to store them. It is an experiment to translate visually the role of Kherson’s collection in the distorted temporality of war: where the present competes with the past, and where memory itself is threatened.

director Daryna Mamaisur sound recording Shaheen Ahmed sound design Anna Khvyl production: Olha Tuharinova, Kshtalt productions, Ukraine

The development of the film was supported by the Ukrainian Ecologies residency program and the Emergency Support Initiative from the Kyiv Biennale.

From the Director’s Note:

We are filming in Oleksandr’s rented flat in Kyiv. A botanist from Kherson University, he was relocated here and continues his research, storing newly collected samples in his modest living space. As he shows me some of them, I lean over the binocular microscope. "Do you see the ‘eyelashes’?" he asks. "No, but I see crystals," I reply. "Ah, that’s just sand from the Oleshky Sands – it’s not important. Focus on the lichen’s structure," he says. His words left a pinch in my heart. The Oleshky Sands, Europe’s largest semi-desert, are now occupied by Russia, and I don’t know if I will ever have the chance to see them.

I have never been to the Oleshky Sands or many other well-known places in the south, but I travelled enough for some part of me to remain with those beautiful landscapes, towns, and people of that region. Now, with most of the territory under war or occupation, these places exist for many of us who are not on the frontline as an ephemeral entity – left only to memory or imagination. The totality of memory feels oppressive, as it becomes the sole reality we can access when physical presence is impossible. Perhaps this is why I was drawn to the story of the herbarium evacuated from Kherson University. It was a way to reconnect with a lost landscape and to surrender to the unexpected paths of history it might unveil.

Screenings:

Fragments of the future film were featured as part of an installation at the exhibition in the Naked Room, Kyiv (October 2024) and in KVOST (Berlin 2025) organised by the Ukrainian Ecologies network and the Solomiya magazine.

Solomiya No. 4 – The Environmental Issue

Crowdfunding campaign:

In autumn 2024, together with the Ukrainian Ecologies network, we launched a campaign to preserve the herbarium. Due to financial and bureaucratic obstacles, a dedicated space was not assigned for the herbarium until last summer. This prevented full access to the archive and, more importantly, proper storage of the collection. Last summer, partly thanks to our film, progress was made, and a separate room was allocated for the herbarium. With the support of Ukrainian Ecologies, we were able to purchase some furniture to set up the workspace, but it is still not enough. We now need to order proper cabinets for storing the herbarium, which is where the funds from this fundraiser will go.

You can support the preservation of the herbarium via paypal: shaheenahmed1[at]live.com or through this link.

The images of the herbarium created during the fieldwork were featured in the Environmental Issue of the Solomiya magazine.