Reflections

As we have hosted exhibitions, we have many times engaged personally with the visitors to the exhibitions and with the community at large. This has been part of the story of our misssion: to have the Children of Ukraine connect through their art and to have witnesses to their stories.

We have also embarked upon hosting Events at several of our exhibitions, Events where we invite our visitors to respond to through their own creativity through art, poetry and story-telling of their own.  These are some of our visitors 'Reflections'......

  1. In Redmond, WA at VALA Community Gallery,  we invited visitors to sketch postcards which we took to Lviv to give to the children

  2. In Liverpool, UK at Our Lady and St. Nicholas Church, we held two poetry evenings with the local poetry society, the Liver Bards

  3. In Oxford at the Taylorian Institute, we partnered with Oxford University Ukraine Society and held a writing contest: Sunflower Stories

Francesca Teal is currently studying for a Master’s in Creative Writing at Kellogg College, Oxford University. Originally from Halifax, she graduated with a BA in German, Spanish, and Ukrainian from Selwyn College, Cambridge University.

Her poem, Red Skies, won the Sunflower Stories Competition, which was part of our exhibition at Oxford University in May-June 2025. This poem will be published in the UK’s leading magazine on Ukrainian literature and art, The Black Sea Whale.

Francesca was inspired by the three paintings shown above, on the left a tribute to Oleksandr Matsievsky painted by a 14-years old artist. Oleksandr was a POW who was executed after being forced to dig a shallow grave. His execution was filmed and shared online by the perpetrators of this war crime. The last words he said were: Slava Ukraini! [Glory to Ukraine].

On top right is a painting by Olesia, of her house, garden, and animals she was forced to leave when evacuating the city of Tokmak, which is now temporarily occupied. On the bottom right is the painting entitled Red Skies by Liliia, a 8-year old girl who fled with her family from Pokrovsk, a city very close to the frontline in the Donetsk Oblast, the region of Donbas. Her father is in the army, defending his family and his country. Liliia painted the red skies that she saw during attacks on the city. Pokrovsk is one of the hottest parts of the frontline, as the aggressors are trying to occupy the whole of Donbas. For instance, at the time this poem was published on our website, June 2025, over 44 combat engagements took place over in a 24 hours period.

A Ray of Hope

A Ray of Hope
Sonia views the morning sun
As it rises from due East
Why has this war begun
Will she ever find some peace?
She painted this picture of love and hope
Towards the end of her teenage years,
Trying to remain so brave, hiding all her fears,
For she knows that time will never stop,
And her country may shed more tears,
She doesn't want to grow up too fast!
She wants to hear victorious cheers.
©Zonked! ~ March 2025

Ste aka Zonked is an English poet, born in Liverpool in 1970. Ste has worked in different industries before a work related incident forced him to an early retirement. Due to his ill health, poetry became an important outlet for him. He has written extensively, initially as a hobby before he started to publish his work under the pen name of Zonked.

Zonked was inspired by Sonia's self-portrait. She was 17 when she painted the portrait and in the first year of her military college. He wrote his poem after seeing the exhibition at the Liverpool Parish Church in March 2025.

In Ukraine, as in the majority of countries, there is no mandatory military draft for women. Women did join the army voluntarily. After the beginning of the invasion in 2014, almost 50,000 women are serving in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, with 16,500 of them serving in the military. With the start of the full-scale invasion, the number of women in the military increased by 40%. In January 2024 women made up 7.3% of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. While this percentage is lower compared to other armies, such as the British Army, it should be kept in mind that the women in the active positions are directly facing an enemy in combat.

Member of Scottish Parliament Kevin Stewart's response was after visiting our exhibition at the Scottish Parliament in January 2025.