Talk Description to Me

Episode 96 - Ukrainian President Zelenskyy and Political Street Art

March 19, 2022 Christine Malec and JJ Hunt Season 4 Episode 96
Talk Description to Me
Episode 96 - Ukrainian President Zelenskyy and Political Street Art
Show Notes Transcript Chapter Markers

When Russia invaded Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy began connecting with his people, and the rest of the world, through selfie videos and video addresses. This week, Christine and JJ discuss Zelenskyy's social media savvy, and describe the visuals of his regular releases. Then the conversation turns to public art and graffiti that demonstrates international support for the Ukrainian people, and profound anger toward Vladimir Putin. 

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JJ Hunt:

Talk description to me with Christine Malec and JJ Hunt.

Christine Malec:

Hi, I'm Christine Malec.

JJ Hunt:

And I'm JJ Hunt. This is talk description to me where the visuals of current events and the world around us get hashed out in description rich conversations

Christine Malec:

As the terrible situation in Ukraine continues to unfold, one of the figures who's become very prominent in the media and in the public consciousness is Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy. And there's, of course, so many things to talk about in terms of the visuals of that situation. But because Zelenskyy has had so much press, and is so consciously working, we're on that and being in the public eye, we thought we would spend some time today talking about him in visual terms, and what kinds of things are going on with him in the media and, and visually, so JJ, can we maybe start with just a little background to contextualize him? Yeah,

JJ Hunt:

he's a really interesting figure and his rise in his political rise really plays into the way he's presenting himself and the way he's connecting with the world during this this war, this invasion. So President of Volodymyr Zelensky, was an established comedic actor in Ukraine. He worked in Russian and Ukrainian language TV and did several movies, he was actually like a leading man comedian who had a couple of film series under his belt. Before he got into politics, he actually recorded the voice of Paddington Bear for the Ukrainian dubbing of both of the recent Paddington movies. It's a really interesting choice because he's got this wonderful, deep kind of gravelly voice. And he did shows like Dancing with the Stars. And you can go online and find these clips of President Solinsky dancing in the Ukrainian version of Dancing with the Stars. And his performances are, you know, like most of the performances on these shows, they're big and broad. He wears flashy costumes that are very theme oriented. He's a pretty solid dancer, very expressive, broad expressions, big dance movements. They're pretty good dance numbers. In 2015, he starred in a TV show called servant of the people. That's the English translation, of course, and servant of the people was about a 30, something teacher who's elected president, after a video of him ranting about political corruption goes viral. So I watched the clip. It's filmed in like a typical looking classroom. He said, a desk with a briefcase. And behind him is a is a blackboard at the front of the classroom with a map posted on it. It's actually a green Blackboard, and he's wearing a blue sweater vest and a tie over a white shirt. And he's really angry, really animated yelling, and he's bobbing his head up and down in this pecking motion, and he's ranting to a stocky bald man who raises his eyebrows at Zelenskyy his passion and, and I think the obscenity is based on the amount of bleeping and this untranslated Ukrainian clip that I watched. And, of course, this whole scene is being filmed through an open doorway by a man with a cell phone. So three years later, three years after the show came out in 2018, Zelinsky, his production company registered the name of the show servant of the people as a new political party, and then actually ran a late political campaign, announcing only four months before the election, jumping into the presidential race, and he connected with the electorate, not through mainstream media, but rather with social media. So instead of releasing traditional press releases, he put out YouTube videos, and he kind of apparently blurred the lines just a little bit between the character that he had played on the show. And himself as a candidate. He just blurred it just a little bit, although the whole time he said this is not a joke. This is not a sketch or a skit. I'm a serious political candidate. And it worked. He was elected in April 2019, with 73% of the vote so very successful can

Christine Malec:

Wow. And so what does he present physically as when you're looking at him? What do you see?

JJ Hunt:

So, in his usual political as his usual political self, so not during this time of war? Solinsky he's a fairly small fit white man, about five foot seven, he has dark hair often cut quite short. He's about 44 years old right now, but his faith is actually his face is quite youthful, a little bit round, you know, looking at his face and thinking there will be jowls on this man at some point. He has thin lips, a fairly narrow mouth, and he's got a long straight nose. He has brown eyes with heavy lids and noticeable bags. Even in regular days, he's got just some noticeable bags under his eyes. And before the invasion, like I said, regular political days, he was often photographed in dark suits, which is to be expected for politician at that level. But these are very nice slim cut suits, well tailored and he wears them well. So he's, you know, clearly a guy who is who, who knows the the power of, of his appearance. But then that changes with the release of some of these videos that he's been using to connect with the, with the with the public during the invasion.

Christine Malec:

He's been addressing many levels of government around the world, lots of media. Yeah, he's definitely been in the media. What do you see in terms of overlap? Because this is clearly someone who knows the power of media and how to use it, and how to make the most of it. So how do you see that playing out in the role he's finding himself in now?

JJ Hunt:

What's really interesting because like we've just been talking about this is how he rose to power was using social media. And then now in this phase, in during this invasion, he has been using all of those tools that he'd already built up to continue to connect, not only with other Ukrainians, but with with the international community around the world. So he since the invasion, he's been releasing these regular addresses some kind of informal addresses on YouTube and Instagram. And sometimes he's releasing them to the mainstream media. Sometimes he like he said, he's addressing like, official international bodies, houses of parliament and so on. And the visuals are fascinating. Like, again, his it's got to be so intentional. His his social media savvy is it's well documented. So his he's got a social media presence of over 5 million Twitter followers, and 16 million Instagram followers. 16 million Instagram followers is twice as many as any other Ukrainian that exists on the on the service. And just to compare, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau who's, you know, relatively young, moderately media savvy, and his has even had a few moments of being the hot politician, he's got 4 million Instagram followers. That's a quarter of Zelenskyy following. So this is a guy who clearly knows how to work the medium. And in almost all of these posts, invasion release videos, Zelenskyy has dropped the suit and is now wearing very simple military clothing. So all of green, like an army green kind of color of T shirts, maybe Masie, brown T shirts, all military issued T shirts, and sometimes he's got an army green kind of zip up fleece that he wears over top. That's it. That's his whole new uniform, whether he's at a podium, or he seated in this formal green leather armchair at his desk, always the military t shirt and maybe a zip up sweater, very strategic choice. He's not dressed like a soldier, right? He's not in camouflage. He's not in a costume that would look really awkward. Politicians who do that who dress up like soldiers always look like they're posing. I remember that the famous case of Michael Dukakis in the tank in in 1988. This was an American presidential candidate who rode into a campaign stop on a tank thinking it would make him look strong and tough. But he's a small guy, and he was wearing a shirt and tie that was visible under this. I think it was a great windbreaker or something. And he had really heavy eyebrows and a substantial nose which were framed by this great big green helmet with ear protectors and a very high chin strap. So his face look kind of squished in this helmet. It looked really dorky. Like he was trying to be something that he just isn't he wasn't Yeah, and tanked his campaign. Zelenskyy is not doing that at all. He's not wearing camouflage. He's not wearing military dress uniforms. He's not posing with military gear. The most gear that I've ever seen him wearing is a bulletproof vest as he walks amongst troops. He's just wearing understated military clothing, which is entirely appropriate for someone who's hunkering down in a bunker and then these videos that he's putting out. So at the start of the end Asian Russian propaganda began spreading this. The idea was that they were saying that Zelenskyy had fled the country at all the Ukrainian political leaders had fled the country. And this was simply not true was just Russian propaganda. So what's Zelenskyy did was he released videos to show his people that he was in country and these are selfie videos, literal selfies, he's he's holding his own phone the camera and filming himself in the streets in public to demonstrate here I am, I have not left I am right here fighting with you. And this camera angle, this selfie camera angle is very personal. He's looking directly at us and speaking directly at us into his phone. And in one of these videos he's filming at night. It's it's outdoors, and he's backed by other political leaders as a show of force and they do an unofficial like a roll call like Parliament coming to order.

Christine Malec:

Gasp! Oh, oh my.

JJ Hunt:

Very powerful moment. While he's holding the camera, the group selfie of all Ukrainian political leaders. Yeah, really powerful. In another one. It's early in the morning he goes out into the street, and there's a little bit of morning mist still in the air. Behind him is this beautiful building with ornate columns and a roofline loaded with extraordinary carvings. I'm sure this is a building that most Ukrainians would recognize right away. And again, he holds his own camera, he speaks straight into his phone, no prompter, no cue cards, his words are always strong and defiant, proud and calm. And again, he's got this deep, gravelly voice with lots of gravitas, right. And he's filming all of these things on his phone, knowing that most Ukrainians who are hunkered down or fleeing or fighting or hiding, they're going to be viewing these images on their phones. So he's connecting directly. And because he's releasing these things regularly, he's recently like several a day in some some moments, we get to see the impact of the war on him. His appearance is one of our visual markers for how Ukrainians are holding up so he went from having this really clean youthful skin and you know, freshly shaven at the beginning of the the invasion. Now his his skin tones a little bit blotchy. In the weeks since it began the bags under his eyes are a little bit darker. And again, he's got no makeup, he's got no studio lighting, he's just filming by the light of whatever room or you know, outdoors he's in. And I don't mean to be extreme about this. It's not like he looks terrible. But you know, seeing him in these daily releases, we feel like we know him and we care about his well being because we can see visibly how tired and how exhausted he is. which is frankly another reason this is kind of brilliant, because this is this is how we, we we know him we know the Ukrainian people through him. Like I said, he started off clean shaven, then he had some stubble than his stubble got a little bit thicker. And now he's got a thin beard just along the jawline, and under his chin we are seeing these weeks go on, we are seeing the toll on his face. And really these these videos are they're incredibly personal. They are very powerful. I mean, imagine being in hiding maybe with your family or with your friends, while a behemoth invades your country. And as your hunkered down, you're hiding, you turn on your cell phone to get news and updates. And what you find is a is a handheld selfie video from your president or your Prime Minister, your leader.

Christine Malec:

Yeah.

JJ Hunt:

Standing in front of a beautiful and imposing landmark that is meaningful to you and this leader is looking directly at you speaking directly to you.

Christine Malec:

Yeah.

JJ Hunt:

These videos are their proof of life, their political statements, their rallying cries, all of that kind of rolled into one selfie video. They're amazing.

Christine Malec:

And this is not how politics is usually done. Is that right? So when you look at you cited Michael Dukakis earlier, but in other just in general, that's not how political leaders predict themselves. Is that right?

JJ Hunt:

They tend not to I mean, it's obviously a very, it's an extraordinary case. I've never seen anything quite like this. You know, there are times when political leaders have to, by necessity speak directly to camera in an impromptu way. But usually it's about media being you know, surrounding that there's this some kind of Scrum where people come in and put microphones in face, or if there is something that is supposed to be personal, it rarely is like it's rarely genuinely off the cuff and personal. And, you know, he a politician holding their own cell phone to you know, take their own image unless it's a kind of frankly calculated you know you're trying to portray yourself as a as hip and in touch with the people and you know not that Zelenskyy is not being calculated with these with the way he's releasing these things, but he is he is doing so to to prop up his people to inform and to entice support around the world making himself a you know, an international figure is a great, well to be crass, it's a great strategy to make to help us connect with this war on a personal level.

Christine Malec:

In the addresses that he's made to political bodies like to to governments and more official bodies, how has he managed his appearance in those situations?

JJ Hunt:

You know, what's interesting is he's he sticks with the with the green and green, he sticks with the army green t shirt in the army green zip up. He might be behind a podium, but he doesn't get he doesn't get into a suit, he doesn't shave, he is in the middle of of a war. And he is he is often hunker down in a bunker, and he's not, he doesn't pull himself out of that role in order to put the suit on and be the official politician. For the most part, I I've only seen the videos of him wearing the army green, even even when he's addressing parliament, it's quite something.

Christine Malec:

I've been seeing references on social media to art resistance art, and in met different places popping up but particularly in the region, like in Poland and Estonia and things and of course, they're, they're not usually described. So I wonder if we could talk a bit about some of the even just graffiti or art that you've seen that is relevant to the resistance to the Russian invasion?

JJ Hunt:

Absolutely. There's tons of it. I mean, people around the world are looking for ways to show support or to protest or just do something right. And so creating art is one of his one of the things that people are doing, and they're sharing it on social media, and then newspapers and TV news, pick it up, because image based stories always do well for news agencies on their digital platforms. So there's tons of this art that's floating around that is being shared internationally. So what I did was I I've plucked a bunch of images from various sources, and I can just kind of run through descriptions of some of these. in Cardiff, Wales, an artist who goes by the name of my dog sighs, painted a mural on a cement block wall. This is a close up of an eye with long lashes. And there's a stripe of blue eye shadow above the lid, and a stripe of yellow below the eye, which is the Ukrainian flag blue over yellow. And in the center of this eye, is a reflection of St. Andrew's Cathedral in Kiev. This is a recognizable cathedral because of the central dome and the spires. And so it's presented right in the center of this eye as a silhouette. And there are some explosions surrounding the cathedral. And below it kind of fanning out over the blue Iris are petals of a sunflower, which is a symbol of Ukraine. And there's one very large tear welling up at the bottom of the eye. It's hanging down from the lower lid, just about to fall the first tear about to fall from this, this large wet eye. In Paris, there's a gloriously bright four storey tall mural painted on a grey brick building. It's by a well known French graffiti artist known as C 215. It's a portrait of a girl rendered in blues and yellows. This this child is depicted from the chest up, it's a three quarter pose. So she's facing our left shoulder, but her big wide eyes are looking directly at us. She has full cheeks, a small chin, and her wispy hair is held back off of her high forehead by a headband of flowers. And she's wearing a button down shirt with patterns around the collar and on the shoulders and on the pocket flaps. Her face is quite smoothly rendered. But there's a there's a streaky quality to the shirt that's kind of it's reminiscent of the thick, buttery brushstrokes and one of Van Gogh's oil painting something like Starry Night. It's a very distinctive kind of melting dreamy quality that these thick buttery brushstrokes, which here have been rendered in spray paint is really distinctive look. And at the bottom of this mural in blue letters on a yellow panel is a quote from President Solinsky. From when he was elected in 2019. He was speaking to his staff and he said, quote, I really don't want my photos in your offices, because I am neither a god nor an icon, but rather a servant of the nation. Instead, hang pictures of your children and look at them whenever you want to make a decision, and quote, and so that's a quote that's written at the bottom of this painting. In Paris. I spotted another painting. This one's on a wall. It looks kind of like a picture book illustration, a girl in a purple dress with flowers in her hair, and she's marching along with a Ukrainian flag on a flagpole. And with each step, she crushes another tank under foot, they just look like Toy tanks under her feet.

Christine Malec:

Chuckle.

JJ Hunt:

I saw an outdoor mural from Warsaw. This one features a little kid with long blond hair in a braided ponytail. This kid's wearing a yellow T shirt and a simple blue kind of Lone Ranger style mask and also got a blue cape like a towel Cape tied around their neck. This kid's got a real stern expression on their face as they stare off past our right with their elbows out and their arms raised and this kid is flexing in blue and yellow with this blue Lone Ranger style mask. In Frankfort, an artist by the name of justice Becker painted a 40 foot by 40 foot mural of a white dove on the side of a building. This dove has its wings spread as if it's about to take off or it's just about to land and it's set against the jet black wall. So like a very bright clean white dove against a jet black wall. And this dove is carrying a very thin olive branch with blue and yellow leaves in Sweden. This really interesting piece I found an artist located a hole in an exterior wall right along the ground level. And this this this little hole in the wall is blocked by vertical strips of rebar. I'm guessing this was probably an old window well right at ground level that had security bars on it and the window was sealed from the inside which creates this kind of pocket behind these bars. And so what this artist did name they made a pixelated portrait of Putin using plastic beads are these little plastic beads you can get and you put you arrange them in, you know whatever pattern you want, and then you iron them and they kind of melt together to create a pixelated piece of art. It's it's kind of a kid's toy, but you can do interesting things with it. And so an artist created a pixelated Putin and then slipped it behind the these these rebar posts. And so it looks like Putin is in jail holding on to the bars of his cell very interesting little piece. So there's an artist named Corey Matty aka LA Hope Dealer as an artist from LA. And they painted a mural on a on a whitewashed brick wall and it features the title to Ukraine with love in bold black letters. And then the image between those two, the two parts of the phrase to Ukraine above and with love below the image between them is seven white doves in flight. And these doves are rendered in very fine black outlines. And each one of those dubs is pulling on a string. And all of the strings are tied to the severed head of Putin.

Christine Malec:

Gasp!

JJ Hunt:

And his head is rendered in black ink very detailed. He's grimacing and there are ribbons of gory sinew hanging from the base of his head as a flap in the wind.

Christine Malec:

Oh!

JJ Hunt:

It's really....

Christine Malec:

Oh!

JJ Hunt:

Yeah, it's something.

Christine Malec:

Oh my.

JJ Hunt:

In Wilda, Poland an artist named Kawu, K-A-W-U, painted a mural on a graffiti covered wall beside a city highway. And I don't have exact measurements, but it looks like it must be 10 feet tall and 25 feet wide, a big, big mural. And it features Putin facing us. And Putin's wearing a green robe like an academic style robe. His arms are open, and there's a Ukrainian flag and orange flames behind him. But Putin's skin is really chalky and gray and he has no eyebrows. And in place of a nose. He has elongated slits for nostrils. This is Putin as Lord Voldemort. Oh, yes. And as a follow up, the same artist did a second mural featuring President Solinsky as Harry Potter and oh yeah, as as Harry Potter. He is wearing the round glasses and he's got the mark on his forehead. But I think there was actually a little bit of a misstep in the symbol on his forehead. Because of course, Harry Potter's mark is a lightning bolt above the rest right eyes. So the on the left when when facing us, but this symbol looks much more like a Z. So it's the same shape, but it's turned on its side. So it looks like a Z, not a lightning bolt. And that is a symbol of support for the invasion in Russia. This is not a symbol of the Ukrainian resistance. So I'm not sure if that was a misstep by the artist, or if they were trying to tie that in somehow. But it does seem like that lightning bolt being turned into his into a Z or Zed is a little bit problematic.

Christine Malec:

I wondered about that Zed shape, because I've seen that referenced as a graphic support for the invasion. And where would you see that?

JJ Hunt:

It's interesting, because it's all over the place in largely in Russia, and then a few tanks and things like that have big letter Z, or Zed painted on the side. You see, there have been some pictures of, of people in offices and even hospitals, going outside and making a you know, standing in position so that they they make a big Zed or Z shape. And then they're photographed from above. It's painted in there even you can apparently buy T shirts with this symbol on it just it's a big Zed from the local from, pardon me, the the national broadcaster in Russia, which is a government station. And it's very interesting. What's what's most amazing to me about this is I can't find any. No one has yet said what the origins of this are. It's not fully understood. This is a symbol that has evolved, is clearly marking support for for Russia. But it's it. No one, no one has definitively been able to figure out where this symbol comes from what the origins are, because it's not it's not a character in the in the Cyrillic alphabet.

Christine Malec:

Oh!

JJ Hunt:

So it's a Yeah, it's a bit of a mystery. It's a bit of a mystery.

Christine Malec:

We know we do have listeners in the region. If anyone has insights, please let us know. Yeah. That's interesting. Other other arts? Is there other arts that you've seen?

JJ Hunt:

Yeah, I mean, I'll leave that with this final one. So in Vilnius, the mayor joined a group of artists activists, they were spray painting a large message on a footpath in front of the Russian embassy, using white spray paint and cardboard stencils. And like I said, this was a semi official, the mayor of Vilnius got involved with this. If you were standing on the ground, trying to read this message, it's a little difficult because it's so large, it stretches on for a, you know, probably a full block. But when filmed from above, or when you take a picture from a window across the street, it's be it's clear what this message says. It says in great big white block letters, Putin, The Hague is waiting for you.

Christine Malec:

Gasp! Oh, my.

JJ Hunt:

Yeah, across the street from the Russian embassy or right in front of the Russian embassy.

Christine Malec:

As I said, we know we have listeners in the region, and we're hoping so much for your for your safety. If there are things that you need described that you are feeling are gaps in your understanding of what's going on around you. Please be in touch with us. And you'll hear our social media handles in in the outro music, but please stay in touch with us and let us know if there's anything that you you feel you need to know and we'll do our best to do that.

JJ Hunt:

Absolutely.

Christine Malec:

And stay safe. We hope you're loving this show. We really enjoy the challenge of putting together a new episode each week. To ensure that our efforts are worthwhile. We need to reach as many people as possible. That's where you come in, help spread the word. Maybe send a podcast link to three friends. Post about the show on local lists serves and Facebook groups. Perhaps tweet about a favorite episode and tag some followers you think might like it, or show your love by becoming a patron. The broader are reached the longer we can stay Boyd and keep afloat. With your support. We'll be around for a long time. Thanks for listening and staying connected on social media. It's what makes this so rewarding for us have feedback or suggestions of what you'd like to hear about. Here's how to get in touch with us. Our email address is talk description to me@gmail.com. Our Facebook page is called Talk description to me. Our website is talk description to me.com and you can follow us on Twitter at talk Description.

President Zelenskyy
Wartime video releases
Resistance art and graffiti