Two years have passed since the war started with Russia’s attack on Ukraine. The war, which caused the death of tens of thousands of people, continues to cause permanent destruction in the lives of millions of people. World-famous Ukrainian artist Olesya Drashkaba continues to explain the effects of the war in Ukraine on women all over the world.

Olesya Drashkaba, who was on the island as a guest of the American Embassy, met with the students at the event organized in cooperation with the Near East University Near East Institute and the Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences. Drashkaba gave information about the international project and mobile exhibition titled “Womanly Face of War”, which is carried out in cooperation with the Ukrainian artists platform “Sunseed Art” and “Resilient Ukraine” organizations.

Olesya Drashkaba: “The anger of the Ukrainian people has become their art.”
In her presentation at the seminar, Drashkaba emphasized that the identity of an artist cannot be separated from the developments in her country and said, “I believe that art is the basis of how we define ourselves. Of course, like the life of every Ukrainian, my life and creative endeavors were deeply affected by Russia’s occupation of my country. Yet, I continue to live and work in Ukraine and I am very proud of this.”

Drashkaba expressed her gratitude for the support provided by the international community to Ukraine and said, “Ukrainian artists quickly formed the strong cultural front of Ukraine by designing war posters from the day Russia started its occupation of Ukraine.”

Stating that the anger of the Ukrainian people has become art for them, Drashkaba said, “Art is a language that helps us suffer our losses and announce them to the world, while also creating empathy and understanding of the values we defend and depicting the future we want to build together.”

Expressing her satisfaction with the organization of the event, Drashkaba said, “Our goal is to spread Ukrainian art to the world. Ukraine is a country of creativity, a country of talented people.” You can find detailed information about the Sunseed ART project, which aims to disseminate Ukrainian poster art to a wide audience, at https://sunseed-art.com/en/.