Sunflower Dreams Project. Portsmouth Cathedral Exhibition

Sunflower Dreams Project in Portsmouth Cathedral Exhibition was the first exhibition in this series I was involved in. I was one of the volunteers who help set up the display, over 2 days, before engaging with the people in the community, talking to them about the project, the artwork, and, of course, talking to them about Ukraine. All these paintings, of which 200 were on display, were made in Ukraine, by mainly children with a few exceptions. Most of the children who made these paintings are internally displaced, either because their cities are now under occupation or because they are close to the frontlines and it is unsafe for them to live there. For example, there are children from Pokrovsk. It had a pre-2022 population of 60,000 people [similar to a 90-100,000 people in UK, adjusted for population size].

Today marks the 3rd anniversary of the full-scale invasion. These days also mark the 11 anniversary of the russian invasion, with the seizing of Crimea starting on 20 February 2014. I am in London and I will go to the rally in Trafalgar Square this evening. I thought it would be appropriate to share the pictures from the exhibition today. The exhibition is still on for another week and today there is a church service at the cathedral, with VIPs in attendance and Ukrainian foods on offer.

With 200 paintings on display it was difficult for me to choose which ones to highlight. I made a point of showing only 15, a number I’ve decided before resizing the pictures in Photoshop. All the people involved are volunteers, self-funding their travelling, and all have volunteered in Ukraine. Like me, most of the volunteers are going back and forward to Ukraine. The first picture in the post is from a family service my husband and I attended as volunteers for the exhibition. Part of the service was, for which I am very grateful to the priest, to look at the paintings and highlight a few of them, talking about various ways one can be poor (not having money, no longer having their home or not being able to go home) and about hope. I though this picture best showcased the event. I also included a few pictures from the exhibition, with the panels, and the 6 metres long tapestry.

It’s important to show what children are going through and how they are experiencing war, loss, fear, hope. I think we should also remember the children stolen by russia. In 2022, 2 months after the full-scale invasion, russia passed a law that made it easier for russians to adopt Ukrainian children. That law also allows the russians to change both the last name of the child, but, more importantly, change the birthdate of the child. This makes it harder to identify the child and, of course, it is a clear example of genocide, as it intentionally erases the Ukrainian roots and identity of the child.

Painted by a 4 year old girl who lost her father, a defender fallen on the battlefield.

Mariupol Drama Theatre had the word “children” written in front of it, in russian. They didn’t care and they bombed it on 16 March 2022. Over 600 people were inside sheltering. The number of victims is unknown.

Painted by a child from Kharkiv.

Bucha

Anna, 12, painted the image of a soldier going into heaven.

The girl’s father died in the war. She paints regularly. The imagine, a pool of plasma balls, is so basic, so void. It is one of the paintings that had a lasted impression on me.

A 13 year old girl, Evelina, painted this to remember the attack on Okhmatdyt Children’s Hospital in Kyiv. It was hit by a missile on 8 July 2024. The target was intentional as these types of missiles have only a margin of error of a few metres. The intensive care, surgical, and oncology wards were hit.

This painting was discussed in the family service. It was painted by Veronica, 11, while she was in Okhmatdyt Children’s Hospital. She lost her entire family as a tank fired directly into the shelter at the bottom of the apartment building. Her family covered her and only she survived. She has a partially paralysed right arm, lost her left thumb, lost the sight in one eye. When she painted this she still had fragments in her body, including her skull.

Daria painted a soldier playing with his pet dog. On the wall is written “beloved” and the street is called Freedom.

This was painted by a girl from the temporarily occupied Melitopol, Sofia, aged 15. It has 4 local landmarks, including the dam which was blown up by the russians on 6 June 2023, causing a significant ecological disaster, destroying houses, and killing civilians.

The flats are spelling the Ukrainian word for home. Painted by Roman, a 12 year old child who is in Lviv.

Dmytro loves the cat and he wanted to make the perfect painting, hence he spent a lot of time drawing those lovely straight lines on the carpet.

This painting marks the 4 September 2024 attack in Lviv. I talked about it, as I was in Lviv at that time and I went to the funeral of the family who died that day. It was painted by Olena, aged 14. The artists that are helping the children knew the family.

This was painted by Nina, aged 10.

This is the whole tapestry, 6m long. It was painted by different children. Each of them painted the city they are from. Starting from the left the cities are: Kyiv, Pokrovsk, Zaporizhzhia, Melitopol, Mariupol, Lviv, Chernihiv.

On the left is the Mariupol Drama Theatre and on the left is the Lviv Opera. It was heartbreaking to see these two side by side. I’ve been to 4 performances at the Lviv. It is a place of wonder and joy.