To defend their country’s wartime culture, Ukrainian artists flocked to the Frankfurt book fair, a major global publishing event, where President Volodymyr Zelensky is speaking from Kiev on Thursday. Illustrator Oleg Grishchenko is part of an impressive group of artists who have made the journey from Ukraine despite the odds.
“I didn’t join the army, but we can fight with our art“, he explains to AFP on the sidelines of an exhibition of photos by Ukrainian illustrator Pictorik group. “Many Ukrainian artists joined the army and I’m proud of that, but I’m better at painting than with a gun“, he admits.
Red light
The 37-year-old illustrator traveled by bus for 17 hours with his partner Olena Staranchuk. “We have to be here to represent Ukraine”, he trusts. It was also a big challenge to set up Ukraine’s big stand in the conference center, which will welcome tens of thousands of visitors and thousands of exhibitors this week.
Furniture and books had to travel overland to reach Frankfurt, and it was difficult to get everything out of Kiev when the city came under Russian bombing, says Sofya Chelyak of the Ukrainian Book Institute. “It takes about two days to transport them from Kyiv to Frankfurtaccording to Mrs. Chelyak. Everything was closed because of the attacks. It was quite difficult to find a car and organize the whole process“.
The stand contains a wide variety of Ukrainian books of all literary genres, as well as a stage above which a bright red light shines when airstrike sirens are sounded in Ukraine.
Culture as a weapon
46 Ukrainian publishers are participating in the five-day fair, which started on Tuesday, as well as many authors, such as the famous “punk poet” Sergey Zhadan and other players of the literary scene. Ukrainian officials see these types of events as important in countering Russian attempts to erase the country’s identity.
“Russia uses culture as a weaponThe Minister of Culture of Ukraine Oleksandr Tkachenko is seen in a video message, accusing the Moscow forces of burning Ukrainian books and replacing them with Russian literature. “Russia is fighting against the Ukrainian people and our identity“.
Are Russian state institutions, which are usually responsible for their country’s position, banned? Opponents of President Vladimir Putin, on the other hand, are welcome.
After the Russian invasion in February, Ukraine’s publishing industry, like many others, froze, but has come back to life. Sales are not at pre-conflict levels, but some topics are successful, including books on Ukrainian history and dealing with trauma, Mr Chelyak explains.
“Piktorik” collective sees the fair as an opportunity to show the world that Ukraine is not only a conflict. Some of the works on display are inspired by the fighting, but other illustrations date from before the war and give an insight into the country’s creative diversity.
“Many people did not know anything about Ukraine, and now we have the opportunity to show them what Ukraine is,” he said. rejoices Anna Sarvira, one of the group’s illustrators. “We stayed in Russia’s shadow for a long time… We are trying to change that“.
Source: Le Figaro
