“Belarusians with Ukraine in their hearts”

Four dozen paintings looking like photos of the war in eastern Ukraine, a broken bandura with torn strings, a shot-through helmet, and personal belongings of Ukrainian soldiers – all of these makes up a joint project of Ukrainian and Belarusian artists honoring the memory of fallen volunteers of the Right Sector Volunteer Ukrainian Corps Vitalii Tilizhenko and Ales Cherkashin.

Ukrainian Tilizhenko (call sign Keks) and Belarusian Cherkashin (call sign Taras) died a year ago in the Donbas in the same action. Inspired by the heroic feat of the soldiers who gave their lives for the independence of Ukraine, Ukrainian and Belarusian artists gathered for a plein air session on the outskirts of the Donetsk Airport. The Belarusian side of the event included Ales Pushkin, Henadz Drazdov, Ales Tsirkunov, Ales Susha, and Andrus Takidang, with Ukraine represented by member of the National Union of Artists of Ukraine Taras Nosar from Donetsk. It was he who described at the presentation of the exhibition at Kropyvnytsky Regional Art Museum how the Belarusian artists were creating their paintings at the frontlines, wearing ballistic vests and holding brushes instead of weapons. He also gathered some exhibits as well, including the maimed bandura, a mutilated book from a destroyed library, and fragments of munitions.

The exhibition has traveled to the Embassy of Ukraine in Belarus, the National Museum of History of Ukraine, the Volunteer Center in Chaplynka, Kherson region (“Taras” Cherkashin studied there), Zaporizhia Regional Local History Museum (the city was Tilizhenko’s hometown), Dnipro, and Kropyvnytsky. Now the exhibition “Belarusians with Ukraine in their hearts” can be visited at the Kyiv City State Administration until September 3.