Send Them to the Meat Grinder

The goal of this piece is to highlight the high stakes of the Russian Ukrainian war. Putin is sending ethnic minorities to die in war. Only 250,000 out of 143 million Russians are indigenous they are dying at disproportionately high rates. Military recruiters drive their vehicles miles away from big cities to Buryatia, a city of ethnic minorities, as well as sparsely populated indigenous areas. No one should die in war regardless of background but Putin clearly has ulterior motives. The backdrop says “send them to the meat grinder” in Russian. The yarn dolls represent different tribes from Russia. These same indigenous people, who’ve been isolated from modern diseases for years, are being exposed to Covid-19 and other fatal illnesses while being out on the trenches. Not only is this war, but it's the Columbian exchange all over again.