BELIEVE IN PEACE
ln the US, Slovakia, Poland and elsewhere, aid to Kyiv is becoming a political football. “The conclusion is clear: Ukraine’s western allies must find ways both to speed up support for Ukraine and to lock it in for the future, in what now seems set to be a multiyear war of attrition” (Financial Times).
The costs of supporting Ukraine’s fight are minuscule compared with the cost of allowing Russia to prevail. This is not a minor border dispute, as certain naive politicians would have us believe. As Putin has said, Russia is embroiled in “a real war” against the “collective west”. The only territorial compromise Putin is willing to accept is the one that was spelt out in December 2021, when Moscow put forward two draft treaties reversing the post-cold war Nato enlargement, effectively re-establishing the Russian “sphere of influence” back to its Warsaw Pact borders east of Berlin. Thus, says Vlad Mykhnenko, a professor at Oxford University, the compromise in question is not 20 or even 100 per cent of Ukraine’s territory, but half of Europe’s.
Fearing the worst, on February 26, 2022--two days into Putin’s invasion of Ukraine--we reached out to Volodymyr Olshynetskyi, an up-and-coming street artist from Mykolaiv, with a proposal to work on an art collection together. He received our message just as the first Russian tanks rumbled into his home town.
“Believe in Peace” is the result of this unusual collaboration--a collection of two dozen thought-provoking artworks, each with a unique message.
Aims
* Bear witness to the devastating effects of war on individuals and societies.
* Honour the courage and resilience of the Ukrainian people.
* Combat “Ukraine fatigue” by providing a new way for people to show solidarity.
* Raise funds for charities working on the front lines of the Ukrainian war.
* Keep alive the hope that Ukraine will prevail, and autocracy defeated.
We have partnered with Prodigi, a leading UK-based fine art specialist, to offer each artwork in a wide range of formats, including not only traditional wall art, but also stationery, home goods, and device cases. As well as providing a wide range of choices, this creates more opportunities for serendipitous conversations between friends and strangers. There’s no better way to keep Ukraine in our hearts and minds.
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