How long is now

How long is now is a series created by Sergey Bratkov in 2022–2023, following the outbreak of the full-scale war in Ukraine and the artist’s forced relocation to Berlin. The works are based on photographs of everyday urban environments, over which Bratkov applies acrylic paint by hand, partially obscuring and damaging images of buildings, streets, and courtyards. Through this physical intervention, the experience of war is displaced into the context of a European city, addressing a European audience directly: war is not a distant or abstract event, but a force capable of entering familiar landscapes and transforming them from within. The series does not articulate a direct appeal for help; instead, it operates through emotional intensity and vulnerability. By painting directly onto the photographs, the artist processes his own feelings of loss, anxiety, and disorientation. All 72 works are always exhibited together as a single wall installation, forming a fragmented yet cohesive image of time — a present that appears stretched, unstable, and marked by trauma.

72 works C - print on paper, acrylic (29,7 x 21)

Installation view, solo exhibition, Berlin, 2023