Artists in Dialogue
When the war in Ukraine began, I found it difficult to concentrate on anything productive for a couple of months. I decided to quit the fashion design course I was enrolled in and spent several hours each day meditating to maintain my mental health. While it helped, I often felt like I was avoiding the harsh reality that my birth country’s people were experiencing. Yet I couldn’t process the information about war either, as it made me feel really unwell.
In early summer 2022, I met Neil, who shared with me a vision for a project to support Ukrainian artists that went beyond traditional charity auctions and art sales. He, along with a group of local UK artists, was eager to provide more personal support to those artists, including some who had fled Ukraine.
I joined the project as a creative director, finding and establishing contact with the Ukrainian artists. The next step was to create a space for sharing that would overcome the need to describe, explain, or hold onto verbal language. I created online whiteboard spaces where artists could post artwork they created in response to the theme. This allowed the Ukrainians to express their emotions through shape, form, and symbol while maintaining the comfort level they needed. The British artists would post their responses to the events, as well as sometimes to individual works. We had a weekly Zoom meeting to discuss the process and how everyone is doing (I had to translate).
After a few months, we had gathered a stunning collection of images on our boards. We decided to hold an exhibition to share our work with the community. One of the artists, Karin, took on an organising role, and together as a group, we secured funding from local businesses. It was agreed that all artwork would be presented as prints of the same size, emphasising the power of conversation through art rather than drawing attention to individual artists’ contributions to the art world through their careers. I was sent to Europe to photograph the artwork and make artist portraits for the exhibition.
I’ve met with Galina, Tetyana, Vlad and Lolita, who told me their incredible personal stories of living through the first days of the war: witnessing Russian tanks passing their homes, remaining paralysed for a week and then fleeing without knowing where, just away from this horror.
The exhibition was held in March 2023 at the Silk Mill gallery in Frome, showcasing and selling prints to support Ukrainian artists and to help fund an in-person meeting in Rabka-Zdrój, which took place in June.
At that time, I was in the middle of my master’s course, so I made the difficult decision to step away from the project. It was an incredible experience that inspired me to continue pursuing this path and motivated me to apply for the MA Fine Art course in photography in the first place. I believe deeply in the transformative power of collective art-making in response to challenges, and I strive to incorporate this approach into my practice whenever possible.
Lolita and Vlad
Tetyana and Galina
British Artists
Exhibition
