Inga

While working on ‘Inga’, I used ‘Paradise Lost’ as my point of reference. A few years before he started work on the poem, Milton lost his sight and had to dictate it to his daughters. The story of original sin and rebirth is told from the perspective of a blind man who is deeply hidden yet authorially present.
Inga’s father, Denys, lost his eyesight at the age of thirteen, and he coped with this personal tragedy through force of will and fate, which brought him into contact with the blind Olga, who would soon become Inga’s mother. When the surrounding area seemed safe, the evil of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine forced the entire family to flee their homes near Kyiv and Sumy. It was particularly painful that the attack came on dear Inga’s fifth birthday.
Denys did not give up this time either. He remains steadfast in his duties and dreams of returning to lost Ukraine. Inga keeps a close eye on her father. From her mother, she inherits insight and scepticism. Acting as a guide to her blind parents, she is perfecting the tools of cognition. She can already see a lot, and if she learns to listen carefully too, she may find a happy paradise within herself that will not be threatened by any external force.