We are the Sunflower Dreams Project. Our project is a series of exhibitions in the European Union, the United Kingdom and North America. It is created and supported exclusively by a team of multinational volunteers, all of whom have served in Ukraine, since the full-scale war started in 2022. We come from many places: we are Czech, German, Austrian, Italian, Ukrainian, English, Scot, Canadian, Spanish, American, Romanian, and more.

We are 100% volunteer run. We give freely of our time to host exhibitions of all sizes and lengths outside of Ukraine. We do not have support from any government and we are not funded by a NGP/NPO or charity. We do this because we believe it is important.

We are proud to partner with Ukrainian artists Nataliia and Yustyna Pavliuk of Lviv, and to present a sample of the paintings of the Ukrainian children with whom they work in their art healing masterclasses, held 2-4 times weekly in Lviv. Visitors are surprised at the beauty, talent and resilience shown in the paintings - works filled with dreams, joy, and love for family and home.

Who are we?

Yustyna and Nataliia Pavliuk

Kate (Катруся) Bolinova comes from a small village in Czechia. Kate co-founded the programme with David Elley in February 2024, organising the first exhibition in Prague in April 2024, and has been helping to amplify children’s voices ever since.

“I want Ukraine to win this war — that has been my goal since February 2022. Some people don’t realise that the war is still among us, and that civilians — children above all — are suffering the most. I help them to show during our exhibitions how they feel and what they pray for. They deserve to be happy, to play, learn, and dream like all other children in the free world — instead of hiding in shelters, fearing whether they’ll wake up the next morning."

David Elley is a co-founder of the Project and a volunteer in Ukraine since January 2024, where he met Nataliia and Yustyna Pavliuk. Upon hearing about their work and seeing the art, he volunteered to show the work their children painted "wherever and whenever" he could to tell the children's stories. David was born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in North East England, but calls Seattle in the Pacific North West of the US home.

“The children paint of their dreams, hopes, of their heroes, and of their love for family and country in the brightest of colours. Only when you know their stories in this atrocity of war can you see the sadness and pain sometimes in their paintings"

Anca, a Romanian living in the United Kingdom, has studied deceit in American news coverage of the Holodomor [man-made famine of 1932-1933, directed from Moscow]. She spends a couple of months per year in Ukraine, since 2024, doing humanitarian work with various organisations.

Anca organized the exhibition at Oxford and created the map as a way of contextualising the children’s experiences. She was part of the team in Portsmouth, Liverpool, and in the other three UK exhibitions already planned. In addition, she is part of the team updating the website and social media.

Thomas, a German living in Vienna, who frequently comes to Lviv to volunteer at the Lviv Volunteer Kitchen, where he met David and Kate.

Thomas organized our first exhibition in Vienna and the upcoming exhibitions in Mainz, Germany. He was part of the team in Krakow and Edinburgh, and is constantly checking for new venues in Germany and Austria.

Dieter has been a dedicated volunteer with SDP since 2024, providing invaluable technical, engineering, and social media support for our events.

His commitment extends to hands-on activities, such as volunteering in the Lviv Volunteer Kitchen, crafting camouflage nets for front-line soldiers, and engaging with children through painting. Dieter has actively participated in campaigns for Vienna and Zaragoza and travelled to Edinburgh to assist with the parliament exhibition. He is a passionate advocate for mental health, particularly for children affected by war, and supports the development of mental health pathways and hospital design.

As long as this war continues, we find the artwork of Ukrainian children and bring it to the rest of the world to tell their stories.

After all, each piece of art is a small piece of a child’s soul. We are determined to aid as many children as possible by lobbying for other countries to provide resources to support children's mental health in Ukraine .

Our Mission

Our Vision

The Olena Zelenska Foundation, see details here, estimated that 44% of Ukrainian children suffer from PTSD, some studies say the number is much higher, for instance the study by Gradus Research, mentioned on Counteroffensive and ukrinform, states that 75% of children  have PTSD symptoms.

Our vision is to use our platform, bringing the art of the Ukrainian children who are attending art healing projects, to create practical solutions for more and affordable access to child mental health care for Ukraine's traumatised Children of War.