Holodomor

Illustration layout

About

The Holodomor was a man-made famine in Soviet Ukraine in 1932-1933, caused by state policies that removed food from rural communities and restricted movement across affected areas. This poster was created as a visual companion to a magazine issue about the Holodomor and cultural trauma. The goal was to make the structure of the famine easier to understand by translating complex historical information into a clear infographic system.

The quota system

State grain quotas required villages to deliver fixed amounts of harvest to the Soviet authorities, regardless of local food availability.

Collectivisation

Private farms were consolidated into collective farms, shifting control over land, production, and resources to the state.

Demographic collapse

The famine led to a sharp decline in population, marked by increased mortality, reduced birth rates, and long-term demographic consequences.

Physicalisation

This installation was developed to move beyond historical data and create a more immediate encounter with the scale of loss. Drawing on the Ukrainian practice of lighting candles in memory of Holodomor victims, it uses illuminated dots to form a collective lost. Each dot represents 1,500 lives, transforming number into a physical and immersive experience.