Russia’s ongoing unprovoked aggression against Ukraine has become a sad inspiration for many artists. The heroic Ukrainian struggle is mainly about culture. It is in the culture that Ukraine’s strength is rooted. It is also the culture that becomes a weapon of war. It draws on artists’ sensitivity and ability to give an individual experience a universal dimension.

This is what makes art so powerful.

Art can speak in a clear voice. We should believe in its potential to change the world for the better.
At the same time, creativity stemming from wartime experience is a crucial testimony. It is an expression of sensitivity and strength because creating always opposes powerlessness.

And Ukraine fights thanks to the power of its culture and identity.

Hence the presented exhibition of Ukrainian artist Danylo Movchan. His works are a chronicle of Ukrainian days and nights, experiences that spilled over the entire nation and will constitute a narrative about Europe`s 21st century in the future.
It’s a literal chronicle. The works bear specific dates and refer to events the astonished world learned about daily as of 24 February 2022. They effectively transfer an individual experience to a more public space, transforming it into a timeless, synthetic and explicit testimony of the suffering of Ukrainian people, but also of their incredible courage and resilience.

In the works of the artist appear all the atrocities of war, the victims of which are civilians. The fear of violence, the bitterness of fleeing, the despair of death, and the drama of exhumation are tragically present. In June 2023, a catastrophic flood adds to the long list of war crimes committed by Russians.
Watercolours constitute a silent and sad commentary on crimes and rapes; it expresses opposition to the war lies used by Russian propaganda and the hypocrisy of the Russian aggressors.

At the same time, these themes somehow contaminate the form chosen by the artist. Pastel colours and the watercolour technique are a very innocent medium in the face of the brutality of the subjects. As if they wanted to talk about a sheer force that awoke as the power of David set against Goliath.
To prove that beauty, sensitivity, faith and hope, and nobility of attitudes will bring salvation from evil.