Ukrainians mobilize to ‘reclaim our art, reclaim our artists’

Marta Trotsiuk has always loved Ukrainian contemporary art. His personal collection brightens up a dim but warm living room in the center of Lviv, lit only by twinkling lights. Despite the power of life, energy conservation has become a way of life in Ukraine.

When the Russian invasion took place almost a year ago, Trotsiuk recognized that Ukrainian art and culture – and his connections as president of the Association of Ukrainian Gallerists – could be a weapon that he contributed to the war effort.

He said the conflict in Ukraine has highlighted the importance of art and how it can help document history while providing insight into Ukraine’s dynamic culture. Trotsiuk hoped art could also be used as a pressure point to end the war.

It only took five days for him to gather together Ukrainian artists and art curators in a group called Culture Against Aggression.

“We decided to register this cultural diplomacy,” said Trotsiuk. “We decided to communicate with our colleagues abroad and first ask them to impose cultural sanctions on the Russian Federation, and then ask them to invite Ukrainians to speak at the international level through culture and art about the situation and the truth that we have here. .”

He said the question seemed simple enough, but it was initially met with a lot of resistance.

“When the war started, we saw that many colleagues abroad – in museums, cultural institutions – wanted to do something,” said Trotsiuk. “And he made a lot of mistakes.”

He said he wanted to bring Ukrainians together with Russians and Belarusians to show unity and show that art can be bigger than politics.

“It is impossible to have in one room representatives of three countries. But our colleagues, they just do not know that,” he said.

The sanctions aim to ‘put pressure’ on Russia

Trotsiuk felt disappointed that some of Russia’s most prominent and visible personalities in the cultural sphere failed to speak out against the violence perpetrated by the government. He said international institutions then put the spotlight on unacceptable, and banning individuals from their own fields could put pressure on them to change their approach.

This week, ask the latest by Ukraine in front of cultural sanctions has excluded Russian athletes from the 2024 Summer Olympics to be held in Paris, a request supported by a list of countries from around the world, excluding Canada.

“For the entire Ukrainian sports community, this is a question of principle,” said Ukrainian sports minister Vadym Guttsait.

Trotsiuk said that it was not difficult to find examples to explain why Ukrainians and Russians standing next to the stage could feel impossible. He showed me a sharp painting on his wall, in a dramatic pink color. It was created by local artist Zirka Savka before the invasion.

“His wife, from the second day of the war, he volunteered in the army. He is also an artist and he exchanged paint brushes for machine guns,” said Trotsiuk.

He said that Savka will travel to Taiwan in late 2022 with Trotsiuk, to present Ukrainian culture and the way of life that Ukrainian soldiers lead. Meanwhile, he worries that his wife will live to see tomorrow. Trotsiuk said that asking this artist or Ukrainians to share the stage with Russians was unthinkable.

“And his art, too, changed because of the war,” Trotsiuk said.

Scrolling through Savka’s Instagram account, the bright pinks and purples are no longer there, now replaced by reds, blacks and oranges. The images have a deeper, graphic or violent feel today.

Art changes in all forms will document the timeline of this conflict, this dark chapter in Ukrainian history. The Ukrainian government has invested in several programs to utilize the country’s rich artist resources.

One such program is Museum of Metahistory, which published daily artworks of the war to document the progress of the conflict from the artist’s point of view. The digital images are then sold as NFTs (non-fungible tokens) to raise funds for Ukrainian cultural institutions, many of which have been targeted by Russian bombs.

For Alice Zhuravel, this project is a great opportunity to return to the world of art. Zhuravel had been trying to make a name for himself as an artist, but in late February, he felt so compelled to help his country that he moved into the humanitarian aid sector, where he documented the experiences of Black Ukrainians and Ukrainians alike. the background.

“With humanitarian work, you can see your results the same day,” Zhuravel said. At first, it was what he needed, but a year ago, he wanted to return to art in a public way. He has, all along, done it as a way of reflection and self-care, and hopes to find more time and space for his art to progress.

“Art, for me, is a very important field for the long term, the best for social change and for building a positive culture,” he said.

The work sent to the Museum of Metahistory is a digital 3D piece meant to document the tragedy of the destruction of the land of Ukraine.

“They have been ruining our crops for years,” Zhuravel said. “This harvest of wheat and sunflowers, for example.”

The Museum of Metahistory has raised more than $1.3 million to date.

This year, the government and citizens of Ukraine engaged in a wide-ranging conversation about how to remove the influence of Russian culture from all spheres of Ukrainian life – derussification of the country – from street names to the debate about removing the name of the Russian poet and playwright Alexander Pushkin from the theater. in Kharkiv. On the contrary, Ukrainians are trying to recapture other famous artists who were previously known as Soviet, or Russian.

“It’s complicated because all the time Ukraine is suffering, we can’t get full independence for a long time,” said Trotsiuk. “But our culture, all the time, is with us and our identity too. [And it is time] to reclaim our art, reclaim our artists.”