"Art has the power to heal." Three Ukrainian artists talk about the situation in their country

Three Ukrainian artists speak out for themselves about what is happening in their country. And they do so through Florence Biennale, the international contemporary art and design exhibition in Florence that since its inception in 1997 has been an important moment of intercultural and interdisciplinary encounter. “Dialogue between peoples through culture and art in particular,” they explain from Florence Biennale, “is in fact one of the inspiring principles of Florence Biennale, which promotes the value of respecting diversity by considering it a great richness from both human and artistic points of view.” Florence Biennale condemns those who violently prevent encounter and dialogue, and its general direction wanted to give the artists fromUkraine present at the last edition of the international exhibition (last October 2021), who were willing and in a position to do so, the opportunity to express themselves in the first person, answering some questions and entrusting a message of their own to be shared with the media, on social media and on the Florence Biennale website, with the intention of showing our solidarity with all the Ukrainian people and spreading a message of peace. The artists who answered the questions are Aleksandr Vishnevetskiy, Kseniya Oudenot and Natalia Marchuk. Below are the questions and the answers they gave.

First we would like to ask you how are you doing and what is your state of mind? Have you felt the community of artists and the art world close? We believe that art is one of the most important forms of language and dialogue between people. Can artists, their role in the world, help in any way in such a difficult situation? Would you like to share a message?

Aleksandr Vishnevetskiy: My name is Aleksandr Vishnevetskiy and I was born in Kiev, Ukraine. For 30 years I lived with my family in the US. I am lucky to have been born in a historical city like Kiev, one of the most beautiful cities in the world. I was born in 1950, five years after the end of World War II. In school I studied the history of the war and saw pictures of our beautiful city reduced to ruins. We lost many family members during the war, and the families of our neighbors suffered the same losses. It took a long time to rebuild Kiev and restore it to its glory. Today we cannot believe that Russian troops came with a war mission and are destroying the city that their fathers and grandfathers rebuilt after World War II. My family left Ukraine after the Chernobyl tragedy. The Russians and Ukrainians had united to save our families from this terrible event. Russian and Ukrainian soldiers went to Chernobyl first to prevent the city from a terrible tragedy and lost their lives. Today thousands of Ukrainians, mothers with children, crossed the border to neighboring countries to save their lives. My family went through the immigration process and we all know the difficulties of this process, how long and how much strength it takes to overcome this difficult path. Today our hearts are hurting and many of my friends are crying. We cannot believe that this is happening and that Russian troops have a terrible mission to put Ukrainian cities in ruins. I am sure that the majority of the Russian people do not want this and are opposed to the political mission of their government. Let us pray and hope for the best, all together, for Ukraine.

Kseniya Oudenot: My world and my family’s world has literally turned upside down. It is hard to describe. I am in shock, angry about the situation and extremely sad about all the pain my nation is going through. My heart is torn and my mind is wondering what to do and how to help. But it is impossible to help everyone, and to see how innocent civilians and children are being killed and deprived of everything they loved, robbed of their future is more than heartbreaking. I am now traveling to the border of Ukraine, trying to help my mother and grandmother cross it and get to a safe place. My grandmother will be 98 years old in a few days, so their journey has been really challenging, but people and aid organizations have helped them make it. To finally be able to see them again is a joy. We weep with sadness and fear for all our loved ones who remained in Ukraine and are now in danger. The future has never been so unclear. The support of the artist community is incredible, it is truly heartwarming to see such genuine kindness and assistance. I think in such desperate times intervention on the ground is what matters most. But art obviously matters too, as it has the power to heal, reflect and record these events so that future generations can see and learn from our experience.

Natalia Marchuk. It is quite difficult to express my current feelings and state of mind in words. This situation has turned my world upside down. I’m quite overwhelmed, contrite, I can’t sleep and I’m tired but I’m trying to make myself strong and most of all I’m really angry. On the first day of the war I had a panic attack in the middle of the night. It was the first time in my whole life that I had a panic attack, the whole night seemed surreal. My friends in Kiev were sending me messages telling me that they had been woken up by bombs. It was a few hours before dawn. But my artist friends were perhaps the first ones who reacted and wrote to me that night, checked on me and eventually helped me calm down. Many of them were the same ones who were protesting with me in New York 20 days earlier. It was an artists’ rally I had organized called “Make Art, Not War” for the city’s creatives to draw attention to the problem and prevent war. That night we all felt like we had failed. I have always regarded art as a very powerful medium. And culture is the soul of a nation. There is a reason why the Russian military is targeting our monuments, bombing memorials and destroying works of art (on top of everything else). There is a reason why in the past, when they took away our independence, they murdered artists and writers and tried to establish what artists are “allowed” to do. There is a much abused saying, “A picture is worth a million words.” With a work of art you can raise a lot of discussion and provoke critical thinking whether you are an activist artist or simply trying to document current events. In this case, art becomes a strong educational tool. Believe me or not, there are still raving lunatics out there who believe that Putin is “helping” us and not killing our children, and there are even a lot of people in Russia who think there is no war. The aggressors know about art and they are afraid of it, they always have been. I urge you not to be afraid to project yourselves, your feelings and your thoughts at this time onto the works of art, in whatever technique or medium you use. Promote your work on your platforms, speak out and help Ukraine in any way you can. We are the voice of our generation. This is our task.

"Art has the power to heal." Three Ukrainian artists talk about the situation in their country

Warning: the translation into English of the original Italian article was created using automatic tools. We undertake to review all articles, but we do not guarantee the total absence of inaccuracies in the translation due to the program. You can find the original by clicking on the ITA button. If you find any mistake,please contact us.