The Wartime Art Archives continued

Dublin, November 2022

2022 has turned out to be the worst year in European history since the end of WWII. On February 24 2022, at 5 am, Russia, occupying parts of Ukraine since 2014, started a full-scale military invasion against the whole Ukrainian nation to annex Ukrainian territory and fulfill the Russian ruthless imperial dream. Geopolitically it also means that Russia has attacked and invaded Europe, which it has been trying to undermine for the last 22 years by supporting all kinds of extremist, anti-democratic forces.

As of, the number of people who fled Ukraine since is estimated at 14,853,082. While 7,359,216 have returned to the country, the UNHCR records 7,786,195 refugees from Ukraine across Europe. At the same time, Russia, once again, has been turned into a military factory where human lives and rights don’t count unless they support the sick obsession to erase a whole country, its beautiful language and culture, and to make the proud Ukrainian nation a part of the Russian zombie state.

Currently, there are also other wars or conflicts ongoing in over 30 countries in the world. The War in Syria, the violence in Myanmar, the conflict in Afghanistan, the Yemeni civil war, the Mexican drug war, the Ethiopian civil war, and the Occupation of Palestine, along with climate change, contributed to the displacement of an unprecedented 89.3 million people around the world who have been forced from their homes. 53.2 million are internally displaced, and 27.1 are refugees: who have had to travel to a new country to find safety.  All these people need solidarity which must translate into support, hospitality, and opportunities to regain their lives. Offering this support is everybody’s duty, and it also impacts our lives. However, our sacrifices are very modest compared to people who lost everything or are facing a winter without heat and electricity under constant shelling.

These horrific events also affect artists and arts organisations. Russian curators at this year’s Venice Biennale refused to represent their country. They published a statement that “there is nothing left to say, there is no place for art when civilians are dying under the fire of missiles when citizens of Ukraine are hiding in shelters when Russian protesters are getting silenced.”

From Ukraine, we know about hundreds of female and male artists joining the army, volunteering, and offering humanitarian aid and support. Most of the artists have paused their artistic work; some try to combine artistic activities, cultural diplomacy and military or social services. There are also artists who, in response to the war, keep producing works nearly on a daily basis. It helps them to deal with the constant news reporting about more and more war atrocities. As described by the curators of the Piazza Ukraine at Venice Biennale, “Shortly after a new piece is completed, whether it’s a drawing, a photograph, a comic strip or a short text, it goes public — via social media. Becoming a subject of the public realm, these works turn into something bigger. They become evidence, an artifact, a document of the state of mind. Perhaps, these works have already gained the status of the most sincere and certainly undeniable documentation of the experience: the one of trauma, anger, and, yet, of sheer courage, too.”

The same happens to artists in other parts of the world who are affected by the wars and conflicts directly or indirectly, trying to help, crying, and documenting the brutal absurdity of wasted lives.

Every one of us can make a difference.

With best wishes,

Monika