Buses and most trains stopped running within a few days of the war starting, which made it difficult to escape what felt like a nightmare.

Fortunately, some trains continued to operate from Kyiv to Lviv, but they were jam-packed. Women with small children and elderly passengers were forced to stand for long hours and sleep on the floor. There were cases when the trains came under fire.

Thankfully, a good friend offered me a place in their car – I’d resigned to the fact that I would have to stay and deal with whatever came my way. 

The roads were chaotic. Cars were driving from across the country towards Western Ukraine, causing traffic jams at each turn. There were four of us in a car, with only one of us holding a driving licence, so we made stops along the way to rest.

The first city we made a stop at was Vinnytsia. As we were leaving, we found out that a nearby airport was bombed as we slept.

Western Ukraine was also bombed and that’s where we were going. So, we decided to drive to the border, towards Poland. This journey took us four days.

We finally crossed the border on 8th March. We were given shelter by a Polish family, who welcomed us in like family.

In Poland and further down the line in Portugal, we received enormous support and care from everyone we met. Who knows what would have happened to us without the love and support that Ukraine and Ukrainians received from other countries.

Looking at what is happening in my home country, I see genocide and an attempt to destroy our nation. For Ukrainians, this war is not a matter of political interest – it’s a matter of survival.

The road back to Art

I went on to apply for the Art Residence scheme in Portugal, and I was successful! The residency allowed me not only to continue working in my speciality but also to gain experience in the field of contemporary art.

My research was about combinations of the simplest forms. I aimed to achieve expressive ‘sound’ in simple and abstract compositions; to explore the balance between existing and not existing.

The starting point for my research was the work of Ukrainian artist Sonia Delaunay. At the beginning of the last century, Sonia Delaunay immigrated to Europe and lived in France and Portugal. Together with her husband, Robert Delaunay, they developed a style now defined as Orphism. 

Inspired by the work of these artists, I started creating minimalistic abstract statements, experimenting with new techniques, and by the end of the residency, created a set of art books from metal and epoxy resin.