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At first look, Yuliia “Juli” Hvozdetska doesn’t come throughout as somebody whose household is in peril. Sporting a pink onesie together with her shiny black hair let down, the 25-year-old former mannequin seems to be like another foreigner in Bangkok.
With a shy smile, Hvozdetska permits a reporter into her studio rental the place all 4 partitions are lined by portray after portray. She stated she was cleansing; her place is neat and tidy.
Hvozdetska is an artist. She works in oil and acrylic and does some illustrations. Her room is surrounded by the mushy, heat colours of pictures that embody flowers and rural landscapes. Hvozdetska’s rental can be her studio, and on the heart of it’s a desk piled together with her paints.
Hvozdetska’s story is a little more sophisticated than that of a typical Bangkok artwork scholar. Her nation, Ukraine, was invaded quickly after she departed in February. It was one week after settling into her new dwelling that her mother known as.
“First, I wakened and my mother known as me and she or he stated, ‘Struggle is beginning.’ And I stated ‘What?’ And I hardly believed it, and it was onerous to think about how is it doable,” Hvozdetska stated. “And he or she began to say there have been bombs and taking pictures.”
Since then, Hvozdetska has spoken to her household, who stay close to the border with Russia, nearly day-after-day, however typically the violence prevents it. Hvozdetska stated that it’s typically higher for her household to not name as she worries the Russian navy would possibly monitor the decision and discover them. On the time of our interview, her household was pressured to remain in a bomb shelter reasonably than their dwelling.
More than six million Ukrainians have fled the nation since Russia invaded on Feb. 24, in keeping with the United Nations. Greater than 5.6 million of these refugees stay in neighboring nations, principally in Poland.
However Hvozdetska is in Thailand. It’s a rustic the place she doesn’t converse the language and has no household ties. After Hvozdetska’s mom broke the information of the invasion, the artist couldn’t paint for 2 weeks.
“I at all times was with my cellphone, simply sleeping with my cellphone, and checked about each half-hour,” she stated.
However after two weeks, Hvozdetska returned to her artwork with a brand new sense of dedication, portray and drawing much more than earlier than. Her works, which embody primarily oil and acrylic work in addition to illustration and water colours, have turn into a refuge from the violence.
Regardless of the pictures of violence and dying popping out of Ukraine, together with the bombing of a maternity hospital, Hvozdetska doesn’t paint warfare and bloodshed. As a substitute, she creates picturesque surroundings.
Requested why she paints lovely surroundings regardless of the violence, Hvozdetska stated she painted the flowers with the hope of successful.
One in all her newer works, an oil portray titled Flowers of Victory exhibits yellow flowers in a transparent vase, atop a blue floor. The background can be yellow. The one coloration other than blue and yellow is the deep inexperienced of the flower’s stems.
“I simply felt it. I felt like I needed to color flowers with yellow and blue. These remind me of Ukraine, remind me of peace,” Hvozdetska stated. “As a result of I want we may win.”
An older, panorama oil portray incorporates a pond in a countryside surrounded by timber and pastures. She painted the piece from a photograph. Although it might solely be an accident or coincidence, the colours on this portray additionally evoke the blue and yellow colours of the Ukrainian flag.
“The world discovered who the Ukrainians are,” she stated. “Flowers have at all times been a logo of peace. On this case, it’s a image of victory.”
She’s not the one Ukrainian artist in Bangkok. Tetiana Cherevan can be utilizing her artwork to speak the great thing about Ukraine. Cherevan has been in Thailand for a few years, and the invasion started when her household was within the kingdom visiting.
She not too long ago created a mural on a wall at Chulalongkorn College primarily based on considered one of her 2014 work on the invitation of the Humanitarian and Human Rights Affairs Division The mural exhibits Berehynia, a slavic goddess who Cherevan stated is a guardian to Ukrainians. She stated Berehynia is called a helper to those that stay by the rules of reality and honor.
Although dreamy, it’s not meant to pacifistic.
“I gained’t paint Ukraine knelt down. Ukraine is destroyed now, in blood, in grief, each Ukrainian coronary heart is damaged wherever they’re,” Cherevan stated. “Nonetheless, Ukrainians are individuals with nice historical past, with honest hearts. Ukraine on my mural is smiling since it’s life-affirming.”
For Hvozdetska, her most intricate piece is Island of Stability in a Sea of Chaos. She spent 5 hours for 5 days drawing the piece with solely a black pen. In the midst of tons of of flowery, black and white layers is a spherical monochrome earth containing an astronaut. Hvozdetska stated the astronaut represents her. Although not explicitly about Ukraine, the pictures is supposed to symbolize the issues with all the things in life, she stated.
“However within the center it’s me,” she stated. “Like I’m attempting to maintain concord, stability.”
After spending so many hours fervently creating the piece, Hvozdetska doesn’t plan to promote it as she has fairly an emotional connection to it. It’s her favourite piece she has performed.
Hvozdetska had initially deliberate to go to dwelling for just a few months in March or April, however the invasion has saved her within the concrete jungle of Bangkok. After making extra connections in Bangkok’s artwork scene, Hvozdetska desires to proceed utilizing her artwork to make individuals conscious of Ukraine.
“I wanna make extra artwork to point out all individuals all over the world how lovely Ukraine is. And the way robust individuals are, how we will win this warfare and the way we will keep collectively. Everybody.”
Discover Hvozdetska and Cherevan on Instagram.
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