The Polish Institute in Bucharest and the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Bucharest, in partnership with the National Museum of the Romanian Peasant and with the support of the Embassy of Ukraine in Romania, are waiting for you on Tuesday, October 18, 2022, from 18.00, at the Media Hall, at the opening of a unique exhibition of icons painted on boxes of ammunition by two Ukrainian artists.
In 2014, in response to Russia’s first military aggression against Ukraine, artists Ukrainians Oleksandr Klymenko and Sonia Atlantova started painting icons on boxes of ammunition. This very original and expressive approach had an impact from the very beginning, compelling to viewers.
Through our works, we want to transform death, whose symbol is the ammunition box, into life, which in Ukrainian culture is symbolized by the traditional orthodox icon.
Oleksandr Klymenko
The collection presented in Bucharest will also include newer works, including created icons by Klymenko during his stay at the front in August 2022, during the current invasion of Russia over Ukraine. The main goal of Ukrainian artists is to sell the icons, the amount collected is donated for charitable purposes to people affected by the war, but mostly to come in help the First Voluntary Mobile Hospital in Ukraine, where they have been since 2014 already treating more than 60 patients. According to Klymenko’s statements, 97% of the hospital’s running costs were covered by the sale of the icons.
The icons in the exhibition travel worldwide to this day, being exhibited in 15 countries and dozens of places (including the European Parliament or the Museum National from Vilnius). The opening on October 18 in the Media Hall of the National Museum of the Peasant Romanian will take place with the participation of the authors of the works. The exhibition will be open to the public until November 13, 2022, from Tuesday to Sunday, between 10 and 18.00. Monday is closed, and entry is free.
