TEXTWITNESSES OR RESOURCES?
The collage is composed of Jeanna Kolesova’s footage, material from a peat mining company (used with permission), and Soviet archival images from TASS, dated 1943 and 1954. 2025 ©Jeanna Kolesova



Text
First published in Berliner Gazette 09/06/2025
English
German

Editor, Translater: Berliner Gazette

Supported by
Scholarship Kunstfonds Bonn

Witnesses or Resources? On Peat, Laboring Bodies, and Imperial Practice. 


The Soviet vision of seamless transformation – for example, converting peatlands into energy sources and arable land, and people into compliant laborers – was largely realized. However, this transformation left behind traces of persistent violence, such as smoldering ‘zombie’ fires that erupt into large-scale wildfires every 10 to 15 years, increased greenhouse gas emissions, and the oral histories of workers injured by relentless physical labor.


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