Singer and songwriter Daria Gerashchenko talks about her participation in the forest art residency “Forest Voice,” part of the Forest Memory Lab project, organized by AO Pădurea Noastră with the support of the Goethe-Institut and Culture Moves Europe.
Daria shares her impressions of living in nature, creating together with others, making music and working with clay. She talks about encounters with wild animals and how spending time in the forest helped her listen to herself more deeply and find new inspiration for her creativity.
My name is Daria Gerashchenko. I came from Odesa, Ukraine. I create music together with my family and also enjoy various kinds of handicrafts.
When I was coming here, I already knew that I would arrive at a wonderful place — the Moldovan Codri. I knew there would be a magical forest, a beautiful estate belonging to my friends, and an opportunity to be creative: sing songs, work with clay, and paint.
Of course, I was looking forward to an exciting and inspiring experience.
When I arrived here, I felt such joy and happiness! Breathing in the scent of these herbs, admiring the trees, touching the pure spring water, and swimming in the lake — it was true happiness.
I really wanted to make music with my son and his friend. And, of course, I wanted to try making different things with my own hands, putting all my love into them and creating a song.
For me, the Forest Voice is the harmony that the forest, with all its inhabitants, gives to people. It is a force of nature that draws a person and their entire inner world into itself.
At the same time, the Forest Voice is an unexplored, undiscovered part of me that has always lived within me, that is growing inside me and wants to be heard. A part that wants to share with the world everything that is best within me: all my beauty, tenderness, love, and light.
During my time here, throughout the residency, this connection has grown even stronger. We gathered herbs, made bouquets from them, worked with clay, and learned how to use the pottery wheel.
My main task was to create an installation on the ground. We paved it with stones that we found right here. They were beautiful white local stones. We used them to create a circle and a path leading into it.
Above the circle, we built an adobe bench made of clay, sand, and straw. We also used the same stones and branches from the trees. I really wanted everything to look natural — like a small, cozy corner in the middle of nature. Although it was handmade, I wanted it to blend organically into the surrounding space.
The circle itself symbolizes the sun and the moon. We really loved the shape of the circle: it is your personal space that protects you, a space you can completely trust.
Just as an artist comes every day and sees their canvas, our friends will be able to come to this circle and feel themselves in a protective sacred circle. During the day, people can dance in traditional circle dances, meet with friends, and hold different workshops — the setting is perfect for all of this.
When we first came to the tree standing in the center of our future circle, there was a dog tied to it. Its chain had literally traced out a circle around the tree. We noticed it and thought, “Wow, what a wonderful little circle!” — and we wanted to highlight it.
The most difficult part was managing my energy properly and finding enough time to accomplish everything we had planned. The most unexpected moment was when our friends arrived. It was a moment of letting go of control and completely trusting the space and the work we had already done.
And when I was finally able to do that — mmm… I trusted, accepted everything as it was, and everything turned out in the best possible way for everyone. Together with the others, we played music a lot and performed around the campfire.
It was so interesting, with so many emotions! Every evening we rehearsed, and this memory touched me deeply. Those were very intimate moments when, tired after a long day, we still wanted to rehearse our piece together. We would gather and practice until late at night.
Together, we made adobe, kneaded clay and straw with our feet, mixed the materials for the bench, laid the stones… Of course, it was physically demanding! But at the same time, we were preparing the exhibition, discussing what everything would look like and how we would arrange it, and working with clay.
I will remember these walks in the forest with warmth, our conversations with Nina, and the creative work we shared — it was truly magical! Living in nature inspires you in a special way, and of course, we wanted to sing, dance, and move. We talked a lot, and these conversations awakened deep feelings within us. We walked through the forest and filled ourselves with impressions that gave birth to poems, music, and songs.
I fell in love with the pottery wheel, and I am very grateful to Nina for her patience and for the skills she managed to share with us — it truly inspired me! And I am very grateful to Vlad and Sveta for supporting me in my musical endeavors. Thanks to them, I felt more confident in myself, and now I want even more to work on my solo songs and play the guitar.
I really enjoyed all of this. Performing is always a special feeling: when we connect with each other, we can share our ideas, thoughts, and vision, and hear each other’s feedback…
I really want to open up and share my light!
A story that I will remember for a long time happened when we were working with clay in the forest.
A roe deer appeared from behind the trees. Then a second one appeared, and we watched them for a long time. When they noticed us, they froze and stared at us intently for several minutes, while we watched them too.
That gaze from the wild touched me incredibly deeply and left a warm, lasting impression. As a result of this encounter, a song was born, into which I poured all the warmth of that experience.
I observed my feelings and noticed the state in which I find it easiest to create — to come up with music and write lyrics. It happened precisely in those moments when I was alone with myself and nature. Everything came naturally, in a state of complete relaxation, when I escaped the hustle and bustle and simply listened to myself and the world around me. All I had to do was write down the melodies that came to me on their own.
I now have a firm intention to escape the hustle and bustle more often and spend more time in nature. I feel a growing desire to inspire other people to do the same and create similar projects where we can create together in the heart of nature.
And, of course, I want to continue working with the pottery wheel. Wherever I live, I would like to organize workshops on clay modeling and pottery. I also really want to keep creating songs and music, and to record the repertoire I already have.
For the art residency, I would choose the words “A Journey to Myself” or “Healing.”
During the art residency, Daria Gerashchenko wrote a poem about the Forest, a song, and also took the lead in creating an art installation.
