Chłopak z pianinem. O sztuce i wojnie na Ukrainie

PWN, Warszawa 2018

 

Nomination to the Identitas Award 2021

In 2013, a piano was put up in front of the police cordon in Maidan in Kyiv. The author’s meeting with the pianist became the beginning of a story about the power of art, and the search for identity in the darkest moments of contemporary Ukrainian history.

This is an important book. It is published at a time when political relations between our countries have deteriorated significantly. The constant reproach, the harm suffered in the past, the tens of thousands of victims repeatedly counted from scratch, do not give any prospect of a good-neighborly future. Coffin policy increases mutual hatred. To paraphrase the poet, one can say: “There are bills of wrongs between us / No hand will cancel them.” Also Ewa Sułek’s hand, but her book is at least a little spark of hope, a light in the tunnel, an attempt to rise above the bills from the past.
Przemysław Trzeciak, Nowe Książki

“Chłopak z pianinem” is an interesting review of engaged creativity in which contemporary Ukraine is reflected like in a mirror, torn between European aspirations and the gloomy heritage of communism.
Piotr Gajdowski, Newsweek Poland

I learned a lot about our neighbors from Ewa Sułek. I recommend her book, because I think that everyone who reads it will feel like going to Kyiv. Or maybe – which is equally important – when one meets a student from Ukraine on the street, will just smile, friendly, not superior. It’s really worth it.
Maria Fredro-Boniecka, Vogue Polska

An important, formally interesting reportage.
ELLE Poland

A precious voice describing the complex Ukrainian reality after the Revolution of Dignity.
Tomasz Piechal, New Eastern Europe