Inaugural New York fair for Ukrainian artists wants to show that the country is ‘a solution, not a problem’

Greater than 100 artists, manufacturers and firms from Ukraine have arrange store within the Skylight at Essex Crossing on New York Metropolis’s Decrease East Facet for the inaugural I Am U Are Ukrainian Creators Honest (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 skilled, the occasion goals to point out that Ukrainian “tradition, know-how, artwork and design have at all times been progressive and numerous”, the organisers say, whereas convincing folks that the nation is “not an issue however an answer”.

The organisers additionally wish 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 primarily based in Kyiv who fled town following Russia’s invasion, are the honest’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?”

“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 associates or individuals who don’t know one another. Usually it is unnecessary however generally it means rather more than merely being well mannered.”

However behind the comfortable themes, the truth for the honest’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 crucial factor occurring in Ukraine proper now, however individuals are persevering with to reside their lives and do their work as they did earlier than,” Grabko says. “We wish to present that the warfare is one thing we are going to win, our defenders should not combating for warfare however for victory and life. Folks have to see that this battle is just not in useless.”

Offering alternatives for Ukraine’s inventive industries to community and forge ties with US businesspeople is a crucial side of I Am U Are. The honest has partnered with United 24, an official fundraising platform launched by Ukrainian president Oleksandr Zelensky’s administration, and a number of the occasion’s income will go to humanitarian assist in Ukraine.

“To be trustworthy, all of us wanted a giant venture to deal with and mix our powers for a very good trigger,” Reva says. “All elements of Ukrainian tradition are equally vital, from the rave scene and museum artefacts to tech startups and craft strategies inherited from our ancestors. This variety makes Ukrainians who we’re.”

I Am U Are Ukrainian Creators Honest, till 26 March, Skylight at Essex Crossing, New York