Greater than 100 artists, manufacturers and corporations from Ukraine have arrange store within the Skylight at Essex Crossing on New York Metropolis’s Decrease East Aspect for the inaugural I Am U Are Ukrainian Creators Truthful (till 26 March). Co-founded by Anna Pagava, the chief govt of the Los Angeles-based public relations company Gogola, and Kristina Skripka, a hospitality professional, the occasion goals to point out that Ukrainian “tradition, know-how, artwork and design have at all times been progressive and various”, the organisers say, whereas convincing those that the nation is “not an issue however an answer”.
The organisers additionally need to ship a message of defiance, claiming that “the warfare has given much more agility and resilience to Ukrainian inventive expertise that the world can study and profit from”.
Masha Reva and Ivan Grabko, a painter couple based mostly in Kyiv who fled town following Russia’s invasion, are the truthful’s inventive administrators. They’ve organised two exhibitions in collaboration with the Ukrainian Museum of New York. Reva deliberate a present of Ukrainian photographers whose work portrays “a poetic, robust, and collective portrait of younger Ukraine”, and Grabko requested a number of artists to create works in response to the immediate, “How are you?”
A standard Ukrainian wreath by Olena Mityurina Photograph © Andrew Gray
“The artists are additionally asking the viewer the identical query,” Grabko tells The Artwork Newspaper. “It’s a quite simple query requested by folks once they meet, a dialog opener began by pals or individuals who don’t know one another. Usually it is not sensible however generally it means far more than merely being well mannered.”
However behind the gentle themes, the truth for the truthful’s individuals is sort of grim most often; after the occasion, the bulk will return to a war-ravaged nation with no finish to the combating in sight. “Sadly, the warfare is a very powerful factor taking place in Ukraine proper now, however individuals are persevering with to dwell their lives and do their work as they did earlier than,” Grabko says. “We need to present that the warfare is one thing we’ll win, our defenders usually are not combating for warfare however for victory and life. Folks must see that this battle is just not in useless.”
Sculpture by Gorn Ceramics © Gorn Ceramics
Offering alternatives for Ukraine’s inventive industries to community and forge ties with US businesspeople is a crucial facet of I Am U Are. The truthful has partnered with United 24, an official fundraising platform launched by Ukrainian president Oleksandr Zelensky’s administration, and a few of the occasion’s income will go to humanitarian assist in Ukraine.
“To be sincere, all of us wanted an enormous venture to deal with and mix our powers for a superb trigger,” Reva says. “All features of Ukrainian tradition are equally essential, from the rave scene and museum artefacts to tech startups and craft strategies inherited from our ancestors. This range makes Ukrainians who we’re.”
- I Am U Are Ukrainian Creators Truthful, till 26 March, Skylight at Essex Crossing, New York
