Reproductions of works from the collection of the Museum of Children’s Creativity (Ukraine) «Drawn after February 24, 2022» can now be seen on calendars, magnets and other souvenir products.
The purpose of this artistic and charitable project is to show the world the true emotions of Ukrainian children who are just now experiencing the horrors of war, and also to collect donations for the «Voices of Children» fund.
«This is a joint project of the ANTS Network, the Museum of Children’s Creativity, and Children’s Voices BF,» says Nataliya Sklyarska, founder of the Museum of Children’s Creativity and a member of the National Interests Advocacy Network ANTS. – How did the idea come about? We already had a successful charity exhibition of drawings from this collection, and raised funds to help Ukrainian refugee children in Bulgaria, but the greatest value is that the creativity of some young Ukrainians helps to improve the lives of their other young compatriots. This is how children feel their involvement in joint work on the approach of Victory. It’s also very valuable for us that this help is done through creativity.
The museum began collecting a separate collection of Ukrainian children’s drawings created after the large-scale invasion, almost from the very first days. Almost each of the works has a separate story behind it, some of them are not children’s at all.
«Since in the Museum we collect only works created by children of their own volition (not «on the subject» or at the instruction of adults), each of them can serve as direct evidence of the aggressor’s crimes and the most emotional anti-war illustration for future generations,» says the founder of the Children’s Museum creativity.
The pictures are collected from different cities and villages of Ukraine. Some of them have no authors, in particular the picture on the wall of the basement of the school in the village of Yagidne, where the occupiers held almost all the inhabitants captive for a month in the spring of 2022, or the picture on the wall of the basement in Mariupol, but the history of the creation of each of them is worth a novel and a separate investigation.
«In order to show the world what unchildish stories Ukrainian children who were under occupation or fleeing shelling and rocket attacks have to live through, we decided to print pictures from the collection of the Museum of Children’s Creativity on calendars and souvenirs. Part of the proceeds from the sale will be sent to help such children through the «Voices of Children» foundation.»
Reference: Museum of Children’s Creativity.
This is a non-commercial, non-governmental project of the NGO «Social Capital» and LLC «G.E.M.» created in 2019. The Museum of Children’s Creativity collects, studies and preserves examples of informal artistic creativity of children under the age of 14, organizes exhibitions, special events, residencies, conferences and other events aimed at studying and popularizing children’s creativity.
