“We Felt That the Country Was in the Stage of a Rough Cut…”: Vernacular Documentation, Political Affects and the Ideological Functions of Catharsis in Ukraine
Journal: Visual Anthropology
Year: 2022

In March of 2014, I attended the first screening of Euromaidan: Rough Cut—a collective documentary chronicle of Ukraine’s Maidan Revolution. Quite unexpectedly the event ended with an improvized mourning ritual for deceased Maidan protesters. Observed in the film, this ritual then transcended the screen and spread through the audience, stimulating an experience similar to a “collective catharsis.” What are the reasons for such a strong affective response to a visual document, capturing the fluid