‘For the Sake of a Letter’, an exhibition in support of Ukrainian prisoners opens in Paris
‘For the Sake of a Letter’, an exhibition in support of Ukrainians who are held in captivity by the aggressor country, Russia, has opened in central Paris and will run until 30 October. The mastermind behind this project is Ukrainian artist Katia Syta, who covered this topic in the past. The Centre for Civil Liberties helped to make the exhibition possible by providing stories of the families, introducing them to the artists, and offering information support.
What does the world of people waiting for their loved ones to be released from captivity look like today? These people are forced to expose their pain and feelings for the sake of a letter, so that they could nurture their faith further, in a fierce struggle for the freedom of their loved ones, in a war with an aggressor who has lost all shame, violating all laws and committing the most vile sins against the Ukrainian people.
The project comprises two sections. The first one includes portraits of the POWs’ family members. All of them are women who are fighting for the freedom of their loved ones against all odds and are looking for any way to make the world see the horrors committed by the aggressor country. The second section consists of analogue, digital and animated collages created thanks to the photographs by Olena Morozova and the efforts of 21 talented collagists.
The artists also got acquainted with the stories of each POW. Reading these tragic letters, most of them simply could not stand the pain that permeated the texts. This prompted an even stronger desire to make people outside Ukraine aware of this problem through art.
The exhibition is curated by Katia Syta and Annete Sagal, two multimedia artists who focus on critical social issues and support young artists, especially collagists.
The project emphasises a basic aspect — under Article 71 of the Geneva Convention, every prisoner of war is entitled to correspond with his or her family. Russia has been flagrantly violating this right.
Some of the photos taken by Olena Morozova:
The exhibition has been organised by the #myministryofculture community under the aegis of the CUTOUT COLLAGE art project, with support from the French art dealer Xavier Gras and his gallery Le Bonheur est Dans L’instant.
