Themes by tag: culture

The sculpture “Cruise Missile” by artist Illia Chornomaz consists of fragments of shells that were hitting the Kharkiv region. During the first days of the enemy invasion, the 24-year-old man was hiding in his workshop. And then he got down to work. Illia spent a year of his life and 500 kilograms of Russian missile fragments on the metal sculpture. He managed to find and collect all the material, thanks to the rescuers. With his sculpture, Illia wants to show the importance of art even in such challenging times. And it also aims to demonstrate the tension experienced by a person who has been living in war for two consecutive years. The “Cruise Missile” is planned to be sold at auction, and the proceeds will be used to support the military defending the Kharkiv region. 

Illia Chornomaz is in Kharkiv, ready to talk to journalists, both online and in person. 

• culture
• occupation
• russian crimes
• Kharkiv

In the National Reserve “Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra,” the second round of events of the military rehabilitation program is underway. Military chaplains, who work directly on the front lines, have already arrived for this purpose. After them, military personnel and former PoWs in need of rehabilitation will also come to the Lavra. Several stages of “cultural rehabilitation” await them. In particular, the study of the history of Ukraine and the history of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, icon painting and art therapy. The soldiers will go to the caves of the monastery and take part in archaeological excavations on the territory of the Lavra.

• culture
• military
• Kyiv

Antonina Semenova is an illustrator and artist. On the eve of the full-scale invasion, she was working on themed children’s alphabets. After February 24, 2022, she realized that there was no way she could draw peaceful illustrations anymore but instead had to reflect on the events of that day. Thus, she came up with the idea to create a “Visual Diary of War.” The woman draws one small sketch about what is happening daily in the country. (This Diary could be seen at exhibitions in Ukraine and abroad).

Later, the idea arose to transform the diary from a personal lifeline of one artist into a project that would be the voice of different Ukrainians. So now, with the support of the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation, she is working on creating an art book to assemble the artist’s illustrations and stories from Ukrainians. She is currently collecting stories about every day of the war-torn country. 

Selected stories for the period from 24.02.22 to 25.02.23 will be published in a book that will be kept in museums and libraries of Ukraine and Ukrainian cultural centers abroad and will participate in exhibitions dedicated to the struggle of the Ukrainian people against the Russian invaders.

• culture
• russian crimes

On August 8, at 5:00 PM, the Lviv Municipal Art Center will open the exhibition “Artifacts of Invincibility in Resin: Exhibition of the Museum of War Fragments in Lviv”.

The Museum of Artifacts of War is 300 stories and objects, silent witnesses of what cannot be kept silent. Artifacts collected during a full-scale Russian invasion and frozen in transparent cubes. 

In particular, in the cubes, you will see items that the warriors of Azov carried through the capture after the defense of Azovstal and a salt crystal from Soledar.

After presenting exhibitions of artifacts of recent history in London, Tbilisi, and Odesa, the Museum of War Fragments will be on display in Lviv for a month.

For reference: The museum exists as an online platform on which all 300 artifacts will be presented. 100% of the proceeds from the sale of the cubes will go to the rehabilitation of children, soldiers and help to their families. 

• culture
• Lviv

Alisa Shramko took her first first-aid training back in 2018. It was a Hospitallers volunteer medical battalion course. Together with Hospitallers, Alisa went on her first deployment. Later, she became a combat medic instructor for new medics and recruit soilders.

When Russia attacked Ukraine in 2022, Alisa was pregnant with her second child. The woman says that the pregnancy was challenging, but despite the difficulties, Alisa escaped from the hospital to conduct first aid training. The paramedic kept taking lessons until she gave birth. After the baby was born, she signed an enlistment contract with the Fastiv First Aid Station, started serving in the capital, and took up the position of a medical corps instructor. Now she often takes her children with her to hold training for newcomers. As a civilian, Alisa works at the National Museum of Folk Architecture and Life in the Department of Intangible Cultural Heritage. 

• culture
• doctors
• military
• women

Roman is an artist from Lviv who taught at the Ukrainian Academy of Printing. On the first day of the full-scale war, he voluntarily joined the Armed Forces. In between combat missions and shelling, he drew with pencils.

He was badly wounded in June this year near Bakhmut. Shrapnel cut the right side of his body. The arm he used to paint with was injured by shrapnel, and his traumatized. Doctors managed to save both limbs.

Now the guy is rehabilitating at the UNBROKEN Center and can hold a brush in his hand again. Roman even had his first master class for UNBROKEN National Rehabilitation Center, where he taught other wounded defenders how to paint.

• casualties
• culture
• doctors
• military

The idea for a charity comic book came from American comic book writer Scott Dunbier after the start of russia’s full-scale invasion. He united many comic book artists to make an anthology and transfer the proceeds to Ukrainians who suffered from russian aggression. The first edition of the anthology Comics for Ukraine. Sunflower seeds was released in 2022. Since then, Ukrainian comic book artists have been watching what will happen to the anthology, because they considered it an invaluable collection from the best comic book creators in the world.

In 2023, the publisher of the anthology approached the team of the UA Comix publishing house and suggested translating it into Ukrainian. In Lviv, the project is overseen by Bohdan Kordoba, Founder of UA Comix. The Ukrainian team plans to finish the cover and text translation by the end of this year. All proceeds will go to the benefit of Ukrainians who suffered from the war.

Journalists are welcome to talk to the Ukrainian team working on the comic book. 

• culture
• volunteers

Ivanna Slobodyanyuk worked as a journalist, project author, and TV host for 10 years. During the full-scale invasion, she covered Russian crimes in foreign media outlets and began documenting the war traveling to the East after the loss of her friend. Ivanna decided to make a film in honor of her friend, an aerial reconnaissance man Felix Kurtanych, who died in April 2022, 

The historical-documentary film “Felix” tells the story of a Ukrainian hero and includes references to Ukraine’s way to independence. The film presents key events that make the audience reflect on the price the nation paid for its independence through the centuries and continues to defend it to this day.

The film was funded by Ivanna as a director and supported by donations from the military and compassionate individuals. The entire team worked voluntarily.

The movie will be presented in Lviv on August 10, Ivano-Frankivsk on August 11, Kolomyya on August 12, and in Austria on August 25. The proceeds from the film’s screening will be donated to the needs of the army.

Reference: Felix Kurtanych defended Ukraine in 2014. After two years, he left the service. With the beginning of the full-scale war, he defended Kyiv Oblast and later fought in the East of the country. The young man saved his comrades and was posthumously awarded the Order of Courage, Third Class.

It was he who flew a drone with an ad stating Garage for sale in Kyiv’s Solomianskyi district with the phone number of the former Russian embassy in Ukraine, which intruded into the Reuters’ live broadcast from Kyiv’s Maidan Square on February 16, 2022.

• culture
• dead
• military
• volunteers
• Ivano-Frankivsk
• Lviv

Volodymyr became interested in pottery in his youth: he tried different techniques and learned from many masters. He had to quit doing it when Russia first attacked Ukraine in the east. Volodymyr mobilized in 2015, took up an anti-tank guided missile, and became an enemy of Russian tanks. After demobilization, he got back to his hobby of pottery. After February 24, 2022, Volodymyr began volunteering and helping Ukrainian defenders. In particular, he visited one of the capital’s hospitals to support the military and hold a pottery workshop for them. Today, the veteran and his wife conduct art therapy for the military in their workshop. They have enlisted the support of the Ukrainian Veterans Fund to scale up into a Pottery Art Center and create an art residence. They plan to take in more military personnel who need therapy.

• culture
• military
• psychological support
• volunteers

The artist Serhii Petrov, known professionally as Bob Basset, produces accessories in the style of techno-romanticism. Serhii first created the masks for himself: the man has a strabismus and says that the mask simplifies interpersonal communication. In January 2023, the artist created his first mask for a soldier, Masi Nayyem, who lost his eye at the front. According to Nayyem, the leather mask by Bob Basset is more comfortable than standard bandages because it has a triple fastening system and is made of soft leather. Serhii was asked to make a second mask by the daughter of an Azov soldier who was wounded in Mariupol.

The Mask for a Hero is a charity project the artist managed to get a grant for to cover the cost of materials and rent of a room to work on the masks for the military.

For reference: Bob Basset started his workshop back in 1989. He has collaborated with Metallica, Korn, Avril Lavigne, Zayn Malik, Ghost, Givenchy, Yiapanis, Riccardo Tisci, Beissoul & Einius.

• casualties
• culture
• military