Denis Music continues to work in the direction of contemporary jewelry and create items centered on social and political themes. He created the design of the titanium brooch ‘Living Memory’ — on September 29, copies will be awarded to those who ‘made a significant contribution to preserving the memory of the Babyn Yar tragedy’
The new brooch is in the shape of a cross-section of a tree with annual growth rings that ‘symbolize the continuity of history and the need to preserve the memory of past events’.
‘The cross-section of the tree and its layers is a metaphor for how history is formed — layer by layer, year by year. Every experience, every event is important, — Denis tells DTF Magazine. — The trunk of the tree grows stronger each year, just as our history is built up from different events’.
He adds: ‘The memory of them gives us strength. That’s why I chose titanium, which is the strongest metal. It emphasizes how strong history makes us if we preserve it’.
Denis first started working with titanium when he created the 2023 collection. According to him, this lightweight yet strong material better reproduced the idea of resistance that the collection was dedicated to.
All jewelry by Denis Music, created since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, is connected with the theme of war and memory. And the Babyn Yar tragedy connects deeply with his family history.
‘My wife’s stepfather was only three when World War II broke out, — Denis says. — During his lifetime, he shared memories with us: how his mother saved him, how they escaped. We felt these stories deeply. History repeats itself, round and round. This realization drove me to create the jewelry’.
From September 29 to 30, 1941, nearly 34,000 civilians were shot at Babyn Yar, ‘one of the most horrific symbols of the Holocaust and one of the largest punitive actions of Hitler’s forces during World War II’.
On September 29, 2024, the Memorial Day of Babyn Yar victims, the National Historical Memorial Reserve ‘Babyn Yar’ will present brooches-awards ‘Living Memory’.
Denis Music is a Ukrainian designer and jewellery artist whose collections have been presented at international exhibitions in Germany, Great Britain, Italy, France, Spain, Romania and Lithuania.
Before becoming a jewellery artist, he worked in graphic design for over 15 years. In 2013, he started practicing as a jewellery artist in a private workshop and creates new jewelry collections every year.
In August 2024, he took part in the exhibition of political jewelry Brave to Live in Kyiv, which opened as part of Ukrainian Fashion Week. You can read more about it in our article.
