Opening night with the artists and a low environmental impact reception, February 3, 5-7 p.m.

The Windgate Museum of Art is proud to present “Art in a Time of War,” artwork by Olga Morozova and her students, and “Dear Ukraine,” a global community poem.

Art in a Time of War” in the museum’s window galleries showcases work created since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The artworks are by Olga Morozova, a Ukrainian artist and teacher based in Kyiv, and her art students from the National University of Technology & Design in Kyiv, Ukraine. The paintings, drawings, and prints are not about the war itself, but about the humanitarian catastrophe that the Ukrainian people are going through. Works on display show the candles used for illumination to create art or finish homework while the electricity is off for hours several times a day; “alarm backpacks” used during an air raid to carry everything of importance, including pets; and Kyiv streets prepared for battle.

“Dear Ukraine” provides a space for individuals around the world to speak to the unfolding atrocities of the war against Ukraine and its people. Although the focus of this project is on Ukraine, we respectfully acknowledge the long histories of millions around the globe who have been, and continue to be, devastated by forces of oppression that endanger life and deny human rights.

We bear witness from our varying degrees of distance and relation to the war against Ukraine and other forms of violence, at home and abroad. We believe poetry and the arts can be an essential way to respond to trauma, make meaning, and connect communities across languages and borders. 

Visit the lobby of the Windgate Museum of Art to read Julia Kolchinsky Dasbach’s poem, “Dear Ukraine,” and then select a prompt to share your voice in this participatory display. Dasbach is an Assistant Professor and Murphy Fellow in English and Creative Writing at Hendrix College.