Strokes Of Grief: Ukrainian Widows Paint Together At Kyiv Studio
In a Kyiv art studio filled with easels and canvases, Iryna Farion puts the finishing touches on an oil painting that depicts two intertwined trees held together by their roots illuminated by a giant sun.
"I feel like it's me and my husband, who was killed in the war," Farion says of the trees. "They are like two souls, like two hearts, like one body."
Farion is among thousands of Ukrainian women who have lost their partners in the war Russia launched against their homeland nearly 17 months ago.
Yulia Movchan, the wife of a Ukrainian soldier who was killed in battle with Russian troops, shows photos of her husband.
The women at the studio are part of an art therapy project -- called Alive. True Stories Of Love -- which seeks to honor the memory of those who died while helping the women cope with the pain of their loss.
The art project is free to join, and local artists volunteer their time to guide the women as they express their sorrows on canvas.
The art project was launched in January by Olena Sokalska (right), who lost her husband years ago in a car accident and says she understands the emotional journey of widowhood.
As of June, approximately 40 widows were participating in the art project.
"It's called Alive because the girls should feel alive since they all feel lifeless right now," she explains. "When you paint, you only think about that. And I thought these women should have some time for themselves."
Movchan weeps as she talks about her husband.
A Facebook community for the art project has over 1,000 participants. “And the community keeps growing,” says Sokalska, noting the tragedy of what that means to many.
Olesia Skalska shows a photo of her husband, Roman Skalskiy, who was killed in a battle with Russian troops.
Skalska came to the art studio with Farion, whom she met at a cemetery, a place where Ukrainian widows commonly find solace in each other’s company and form friendships based on shared grief.
Skalskiy, 26, had voluntarily joined the military without prior combat experience.
The couple was supposed to celebrate their first wedding anniversary in June. But instead, Skalska works on a painting -- the only place where they can be together again.
“A man is carrying a girl across a field of wheat that has been cut, and I imagine that he is carrying her so that she does not prick her legs,” says Skalska, 24, describing her artwork.
Farion holds a photo of her and her husband, Oleksandr Alimov, who died in December after being shot on the Donetsk front line.
Alimov voluntarily joined the army in the early days of the war after working as an IT specialist for a well-known company. "I don’t want us to live in a country where we are not free," Farion says her husband told her before going off to war. The couple had been together for 10 years.
Overwhelmed with grief, Farion says she has found some consolation in painting alongside other women who lost their partners on the battlefield.
She still wears her wedding ring, while his hangs around her neck on a chain. "I can't take off the ring yet," she says. "It feels better for me this way."
Vita Kahaniuk showcases the painting she created in memory of her husband, a soldier, who was killed in a battle with Russian troops.
Oksana Kordina and her husband, Andriy Volkov, had been married for almost 10 years when the war began. On the morning of February 24, 2022, the day Russia invaded Ukraine, Volkov gathered his belongings and got dressed. Oksana prepared a first-aid kit for him. He walked to the military office as Kyiv reeled with shock from the invasion. He died nine days later defending the capital.
“I’m not a creative person, but I realized I needed to try something,” Kordina says, explaining her decision to try painting. "This pain is impossible to explain or convey."
Recently, she rediscovered a lake near Kyiv that her husband had loved dearly. Her painting depicts the lake surrounded by green trees. "I walk to the lake and dream just like this cat," she says. "And it feels like he’s there with me."