Goodbye (To Pushkin) (2021)
Alexander Pushkin’s 1829 poem ‘To a Kalmyk Maiden’ holds immense cultural significance in my home republic and is still included in school curricula. However, its exoticizing and colonial portrayal of Kalmyk women troubles me. To address this, I’m embroidering the poem’s opening line, ‘Goodbye, sweet Kalmyk girl,’ while adding ‘Goodbye’ at the end. In doing so, I seek to challenge these perspectives and encourage a critical reevaluation of the poem.
