Various artists from Ukraine and the U.S. are creating beauty amidst some of the destruction caused by Russia’s war on Ukraine.
They’ve taken a pile of burnt-out cars destroyed on a bridge during the attacks and turned it into a “garden”Sunflowers
For these artists, it’s a symbol of resilience.
“There’s thankfulness of the people who come here, people that have lost their close ones. We cry together, we hug each other, they thank us. This is unbelievable,” Ukrainian artist Olena Yanko said. “It gives you wings and you understand that you need to do this, that the people need it. You give hope to them, hope for our victory. We’re strong as a sunflower because the sunflower is the strongest flower.”
The project is intended to be positive but critics believe that making beauty out of war debris is wrong. But artists say they’ve received more positive feedback than negative, and want what they’re doing to help artists through this difficult time.
“Yes, there are people who didn’t understand us, They think that we are dancing on the graves of those who died,”Yanko said “But we want to show that life will go on, we will win and we can beat the enemy, whether it’s with a paintbrush or with weapons.”
Authorities stressed that these cars did not cause any human deaths.
The U.S. company Liquitex, and various local distributors, have donated supplies to help with the project. Collective plans to raise money for local charities through the sale of art as NTFs.
Participants look forward to taking this project to other cities of Ukraine so that places devastated by war can become beautiful art.