Children’s drawings as a voice of war: works of students of Sumy Art School were shown in Japan and Europe
Children living in the frontline areas of Ukraine are experiencing the war through their own daily fears, restrictions on movement, loss of the usual rhythm of life and change in the social environment. Their drawings reflect specific experiences, reactions to sirens, shelling, evacuations and the loss of usual games, communication and education. At the same time, the children’s works show an attempt to reflect their own understanding of resilience, support from loved ones and hope for the restoration of normal life, which makes their artworks an important testimony of children’s views on current events and allows an international audience to see the war through the eyes of children.
The works of students of the Mykhailo Lysenko Sumy Children’s Art School are currently being shown simultaneously in three countries, allowing viewers to see the war in Ukraine through the eyes of children from a border town. The Sumy City Council announced the holding of such exhibitions.
The pupils’ paintings, through images, colors and plots, convey the emotions, fears and hopes that children experience during the war, as well as the desire for a future without conflicts. At the same time, each work provides a unique perspective that combines personal experience with the collective pain of the country.
An exhibition of children’s drawings created during the war opened in the Japanese city of Ueda, where among almost 200 works, 57 belong to students of the Sumy Art School. The materials for creating the paintings were purchased with the funds of Japanese benefactors, which allowed the children to work even in conditions of limited access to resources.
The purpose of the exhibition is to convey to the world the realities of war through children’s perception: pain, experiences and at the same time faith in the restoration of peace and the future of their country. Previously, the works of Sumy children were already exhibited in the Japanese city of Chikuma, and then the school director Pavlo Ostapenko expressed the hope that the exhibitions would become mobile and be able to cover different regions of Japan. The new exhibition in Ueda was made possible by the support of Sumy volunteer Anna Gontar and Japanese philanthropist Sakamoto Ryotaro, who helps Ukrainian schools and cultural institutions.
In London, the works of Sumy students are being exhibited for the third time — this time at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Twenty paintings created after February 24, 2022, are dedicated to the theme of the resilience of the Ukrainian people and their ability to withstand the challenges of war. In Norway, the drawings of Sumy children were shown for the second time, timed to coincide with the anniversary of the full-scale invasion to remind an international audience of the ongoing conflict. The children’s participation in these international projects was made possible thanks to the support of friends of the school and benefactors who contribute to the presentation of Ukrainian culture abroad.
The Sumy Mykhailo Lysenko Art School continues to operate, despite the fact that the city is located only a few kilometers from the state border. More than three hundred students attend classes, most classes are held online, but with the consent of parents, teachers organize consultations in safe places.
International attention to the children’s works helps not only to spread the cultural achievements of Sumy, but also to show the world the realities of life in a Ukrainian border town during the war. Exhibitions from Japan to the UK are becoming a platform for conveying children’s visions of war and the collective experience of Ukrainians in the form of art.
