Art Sima - The Blue Wagon

THE BLUE WAGON

My work has three layers of meaning.

“The Blue Wagon” is a song written for the popular Soviet animated series The Adventures of Cheburashka and Crocodile Gena.

Cheburashka is an imaginary character who arrived in Moscow in a box of Jaffa oranges—a subtle hint at his possible Israeli origin.

The lyrics of the song contain subliminal messages, alluding to immigration from the USSR to Israel. Many Soviet Jews dreamed of escaping the Soviet regime, where—even during relatively good times—they experienced state antisemitism.

Immigration to Israel began in the 1970s, but it was a difficult process for those seeking permission to leave. Some applicants lost their prestigious jobs after applying for exit visas and were forced to wait for years; these individuals were called refuseniks.

Those who were lucky enough to receive permission to emigrate traveled in the "blue carriage," the border control knew that they are crossing the border. The other carriages—painted green—returned to Moscow.

Installation “The Blue Wagon”

120 H cm x 120 W cm x 45 D cm

The third layer of meaning is what the little girl sees from the window.
She sees the overcrowded train platform in Kharkiv, 1941—people desperately trying to escape the advancing German army.
She sees her grandmother holding her mother’s hand. Her mother was then the same age the girl is now.

Then the scene shifts. It’s the same platform, the same fear—but now it’s Kharkiv, 2022