Exhibition in support of Ukrainian prisoners opens in Paris – photos

An exhibition titled For the Sake of a Letter, featuring works by Ukrainian collage artists, has opened in Paris. The exhibition aims to support Ukrainians illegally detained by Russia and advocate for their right to communicate with family and friends.

The exhibition was initiated by the #myministryofculture community and the CUTOUT COLLAGE art project. Its organisation in Paris was made possible with the support of gallery owner Xavier Gras and his gallery, Le Bonheur est Dans L'instant.

The exhibition was curated by multimedia artists Katia Syta and Annette Sagal. For Syta, this is her second art project focusing on Ukrainian prisoners held by the Kremlin. Her first project, Please Release the Birds, was completed last year with support from the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Center for Civil Liberties.

"My first project is still ongoing, travelling across Ukraine and occasionally being exhibited in various European cities, such as The Hague. Olena Tsyhipa, the wife of one of the civilian prisoners, is actively working to promote the exhibition further, as there are few opportunities to raise awareness on this issue," Katia Syta told Ukrainska Pravda.Culture.

She adds that the new project highlights a crucial issue – the right of prisoners to correspondence. This is stipulated in Article 71 of the Geneva Convention, but the Russians are blatantly violating this right for Ukrainian military and civilian prisoners.

For the For the Sake of a Letter exhibition, 21 collage artists and photographer Olena Morozova contributed their works. Her photographs served as the foundation for the project and as the inspiration for the artists' creations.

"Together with Annette Sagal and Olha Syta, we founded the CUTOUT COLLAGE ART PROJECT, where we have resident artists who regularly create works under our curation. This time, I proposed a project on the theme of prisoners of war. It turned out that some of our artists have personally experienced, or have family members affected by, Russia’s crimes – captivity, sexual violence, occupation. For some, this topic was so challenging that they had to step back from participating," admits Katia Syta.

To distinguish the main artistic activities of the collage community from the socio-political ones, she established the #myministryofculture community.

The For the Sake of a Letter project is divided into two parts: portraits of women from the families of prisoners who are fighting for the freedom of their loved ones and analogue, digital, and animated collages inspired by photographs taken by Olena Morozova.

The curator acknowledges that the French are more familiar with the culture of the Russian Empire and its successor, Russia, so Ukraine remains relatively unknown to them: "That’s why I chose the exhibition as a means to engage in dialogue with the French audience. It is important to me that they understand the distinction between Ukraine and Russia. They need to be aware of the immense pain and damage the aggressor country is inflicting upon us and that the prisoners, who don’t even have the right to correspond, are just one aspect of this tragedy."

The exhibition at the Le Bonheur est Dans L'instant gallery in Paris will be open until 30 September.

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