The initial idea was to collect in one place outstanding artwork dedicated to the war and its consequences by Ukrainian, Belarusian and Russian artists. These range from anti-war posters to paintings, street art to animation, and engravings to the documentation of performance art.
For us, this project is an important opportunity to make anti-war art visible, to unite artists from different sides on one platform, including not only Ukrainians but also anti-war artists from Russia, Belarus, as well as those who have left Russia or who have been forced into hiding. Since February 24, more and more such art has begun to appear. Some works have gone viral as symbols of Russian aggression and the ongoing tragedy in Ukraine.
Images of war created by artists are much stronger and truer than any photograph or video. This is because reality, as seen through the prism of art, that has passed through the energy and feelings of the artist, sounds louder and shines brighter than any documentation. Art is often the only way to understand and survive the experience of war – to fully express one’s fear, anger and pain.
Several accounts on Instagram gather anti-war art from Ukraine, Belarus and Russia, but separately. We decided to create an international Telegram channel, which could become a kind of online gallery of all artists responding to the war and its consequences in Ukraine, whether directly on the ground or beyond its borders. For us, it is important to carry the direct speech of the artists and their ideas, and therefore each work has a caption in three or four languages. We find the works on social media networks and write to the artists to ask if we can publish them. At the moment, the works of some 47 artists have been posted, but every day this number is growing.
Publications will continue until the end of the war, after which the channel will be conserved as an archive of anti-war art.
Anyone can send us their work to [email protected], named or anonymously.
