The documentary film Boots on the Ground, Hands in the Soil centres around the remarkable spiritual bond shared by the artist, Karolina, and her charismatic grandmother, Zoya, a proud Ukrainian pensioner who cherishes her non-capitalistic peasant lifestyle. Through the lens of the grandmother-granddaughter relationship, Boots on the Ground, Hands in the Soil offers a sincere exploration of the role of gardening during times of war and the complexities of food systems. It illuminates the politics of human-land relationships, particularly during the Soviet era, which was the most intense period of industrial transformation in Ukraine.

“Uskakovych focuses on living connections. ‘Boots on the Ground, Hands in the Soil’ (2023) is a fifteen-minute film that traverses a series of conversations, in person and via phone and video call, between the artist and her grandmother, Zoya. As the title suggests, the work is a direct response to Russian violence, drawing a pair of metonymic oppositions between boots (markers of an invading army) and hands (embodied tools of care) and between the ground (a territory to be occupied) and the soil (a place of nurturing and mutual survival). With huge swathes of Ukraine’s own soil now planted with Russian landmines, gardening can be seen as a mode of resistance. This idea has complex political implications in relation to state control over bodies. During the Holodomor, the deliberate starvation of millions of Ukrainians in the early 1930s, growing one’s own food in privately owned gardens was ruthlessly suppressed. Today, Ukraine’s authorities are encouraging ‘victory gardens’ to reduce food shortages during the ongoing war."

Words by Tom Jeffreys for Corridor8  

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Exploring Newcastle's gardening initiatives, Karolina uncovered connections to the city's post-industrial heritage. As part of her research on traditional ecological knowledge across diverse contexts, she presented a map highlighting Newcastle's community gardens and allotments, accompanied by a photo series documenting them.

Additionally, she explored the unique North East tradition of leek-growing competitions. This interest resulted in Turnbull's Leek Book, a short documentary featuring a family of leek growers.

In conversation with the documentary film, the artist developed an installation featuring her research on gardening spaces in Newcastle, presented in raised wooden planters. Many community gardens appeared in post-industrial areas, necessitating the use of these planters due to soil contamination. This research reflects Karolina’s personal and academic interest in local gardening initiatives, culminating in a contemporary map of community gardens and allotments in Newcastle.

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