BOOK PRESENTATION
“WARTIME POSTERS”
2022-2023
July 22, 2024 was marked with the first presentation of the book “WARTIME POSTERS” 2022-2023 created in Ukraine during full-scale ongoing war. It is being implemented as part of the program of image policy of Ukraine under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.
This unique book was created with the support of the Restoration of cultural and artistic activities grant program of the Ukrainian cultural foundation. It was published with the circulation of 1000 copies in Ukraine’s capital Kyiv during blackouts due to a destroyed energy system by russian constant missile attacks. The limited edition of the book was delivered directly from Ukraine to the US specially for the presentation in New York City.
All posters in this publication both reflect and record events, war crimes, and false russian propaganda against Ukraine. The artworks were presented as part of a long-term art project at 19 open-air exhibitions in the frontline city of Zaporizhzhia during 2022-2023.
The event took place in one of the most exclusive elite clubs in New York, where consuls of various countries, representatives of the diplomatic elite and UN missions, professors, and alumni from renowned U.S. universities, including Columbia University, Yale and Harvard, gathered for a panel discussion on the importance of preserving Ukrainian culture during wartime.
The panel discussion was held by Mitzi Perdue, a well-known philanthropist, supporter of Ukraine, journalist, war correspondent, writer and anti-human trafficking advocate, past president of the 40,000-member American Agri-Women and a U.S. Delegate to the United Nations Decade on Women Conference in Nairobi.
Olena Speranska, who authored the book “Wartime Posters” 2022-2023, is an art manager, who has been organizing projects of the international symposium of contemporary art BIRUCHIY for 15 years including implementation of 18 international art residencies & more than 50 multimedia exhibitions of contemporary art in Ukraine and other countries as Italy, Canada, Poland, Montenegro, Germany, USA and the United Kingdom. She had shared here insights of the book creation, difficulties the team faced working on art project during wartime and importance of art resistance in a dialogue with Christopher Miller – journalist and correspondent who writes about Ukraine for the Financial Times. He has reported from Ukraine since 2010 and was previously a world and national security reporter for POLITICO and a correspondent for BuzzFeed News.
The questions raised during discussion were focused on the importance of the preserving Ukrainian cultural heritage, decommunization and deimperialization of Ukraine and its brave struggle for peace.
The online panelists presented their own experience being a part of “Wartime Posters” project, among them were Serhii Bilov, a Deputy mayor of Zaporizhzhia City Council; Zakentiy Horobyov, book’s designer, the artist specializes in creating identities, multi-page publications, posters, lettering and calligraphy; Oleksiy Sai, conceptualist artist, author of multimedia projects, and he also specializes in experimental painting, graphic design, and videos and installations who several times represented Ukraine at Burning Man festivals in US; Katya Lisova, artist, graphic designer, curator and art critic who works in the fields of artistic textiles and digital graphics.
Project’s curator, Founder of the international symposium of contemporary art BIRUCHIY (Ukraine) who has organized and implemented together with the Department of Culture and Tourism of the frontline city Zaporizhzhia 23 posters exhibitions during the last 2 and a half years, Mr. Gennadiy Kozub, came personally to New York to participate the first event after the book presentation in Europe.
The publication includes artworks by the following authors: Mykola Honcharov, Zakentiy Horobyov, Oleksandr Grekhov, Oleg Gryshchenko, Artem Gusev, Dmytro Dziuba, Andriy Yermolenko, Katya Lisova, Anton Logov, Maksym Palenko, Dasha Podoltseva, Oleksiy Revika, Oleksiy Sai, Dmytro Simonov, Mykhailo Skop, Nikita Titov, Mykyta Shylimov, Albina Yaloza and the group art project «Les arts contre la guerre» which was realized in France.
Book presentation took place thanks to the initiative of Nataliia Musiienko, Consul of the Consulate General of Ukraine in New York as part of the program of image policy of Ukraine under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine and thanks to the collaboration and support of Mitzi Perdue and Anna Kutsina, representative of public non-profit organization “Firefighters for Peace, Incorporated.”
photos: Dinara Khairova
