Spring will never be the same, 2022
pastel on paper, each drawing is 50 x 50 cm
On the 24th of February, the Russian army invaded the territory of Ukraine and started a war. The cities were destroyed, and thousands of people lost their homes and were forced to relocate, leaving their lives behind. Thousands of people died and got injured.
Sinds the beginning of the war, more than 300 Ukrainian children died due to Russian aggression, more than 600 children got injured, and more than 200 children were relocated to Russia without their parents' agreement.
The bodies of the children that died during the Russian bomb attacks on Ukrainian cities and villages are often found covered in colorful blankets.
The blankets are an attribute of everyday life and should give one a feeling of safety. We cover ourselves to feel warm, safe and protected. We wrap ourselves with blankets when we feel sick and want to feel better. In this work, the blankets lost their original function.
War paintings are usually dark, but I wanted to show the contrast of perception juxtaposing ordinary things (like a blanket we all have at home) and horrible things happening just 2000 km away.
The designs of the blankets are actual blankets people are using in Ukraine. The pastel drawings are based on combined photographs of Ukrainian children who suffered from the war.
I choose to use pastels as my medium for this project as pastel is a fragile material (just like children's lives are). I didn't use any fixative to protect the drawings.
