Serhiy Zakharov's New, Grimmer Work

Donetsk-based artist Serhiy Zakharov describes being apprehended by self-styled separatist authorities in early August. "Is it you?" they asked. "It is I," he replied.  

Zakharov was at first held in the dank basement of the State Security Services (SBU) among other prisoners. He said prisoners slept on pieces of cardboard placed on the concrete floor. A female guard with a Russian accent beat them. 

Zakharov describes systematic torture at the hands of separatists that ranges from beatings with batons to mock executions. 

In August, Zakharov assumed pro-Russian separatists would soon be dislodged by the Ukrainian army. Now, he says, with separatists holding de-facto power in Donetsk, the situation is "surreal."  

Zakharov's best known pre-detention work depicts former separatist commander Igor Strelkov. The artist jokingly takes credit for his removal from office in late August. 

In one instalation, Zakharov poked fun at the public wedding of separatist fighter "Motorola."