MANISTEE — “My Home-Ukraine: War Through the Eyes of Children” art exhibit opened this week.
Hosted by ArtWare, the exhibit consist of 60 unique pieces of art in total, 30 of which will be at the Division Street location, will run until Sept. 11, giving Michiganders a glimpse into what it has been like for the youth of Ukraine as they’ve lived through the war.
Twenty more of the pieces can be found at the Ruddiblush Art Gallery on River Street in Manistee, while the last 10 are housed at the Kaleva Art Gallery in Kaleva.
These 60 pieces of art featured in the installment are only a few of the 138 total currently on display across Michigan and nationwide, all of which were brought in by UCare, a nonprofit founded by Vera Petrusha in 1997, focused on supporting and creating opportunities for Ukrainian children.
The initiative itself was entitled “Healing Through Art,” and consisted of a 12-week program, in which those children worked with psychiatrists, art teachers, or students studying to work in either field to portray their home in the way they see it.
“What we’ve done for this exhibit is we took some photos of the bombed buildings and we did those in black and white, and then we took components of the children’s artwork and the colorful pieces, and through the magic of computers, cut those out and put those on the posters,” explained Petrusha. “Each little grouping that is going to be presented as like a black and white photo with components, and then the actual pieces of art that the components were taken from, you know, will be next to it. It’s like the reality of what these kids are living through and then their home and what they are expressing through their drawings.”
Petrusha recently spent a month in Ukraine alongside the executive director of UCare Olha Sumina, working with three different children’s camps across Ukraine.
The first, Children of Heroes, brought in children who have lost a parent, have a parent currently fighting, or a parent who is in the hospital as a result of an injury gained during conflict. The second was focused on orphans whose lives have been disrupted not only by the loss of loved ones, but also by heavily disrupted schooling and living environments due to air raids. Both camps took place in western Ukraine, giving the children a chance to experience nature and a breath of fresh air away from the fears of war, though the first group was still forced to shelter during an air raid.
The final camp brought children to the mountains, allowing a group of kids who grew up in larger and struggling families to enjoy the views, but also to learn more about social skills and leadership while there.
“We partnered with different organizations for each of the three camps. I was truly blessed. I got to hug over 100 kids this summer. As I tell people, when they want to know what it’s like,” Petrusha recounted. “It’s heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same time because it’s heartwarming to be able to spend time with them, get to know them, but heartbreaking knowing the lives that they live, the things that they go through.”
On top of supporting children through the summer camp programs, UCare also provides stipends for older teenagers to pursue university studies or trade school, so she also had a chance to run a seminar with those students.
The trip hit home for Petrusha, as a visit to a Ukrainian summer camp for orphans sparked her to start the nonprofit over 20 years ago, and she can reflect even now on the impact that this participation has had on her.
“In 1998, I was like a camp counselor, and I was able to meet up with a young man who was at that camp, who is now a high-ranking official in the army. He was on a training at Kiev, and he shared with me that camp changed his life. He said that by going to camp, he saw that if you worked hard, the opportunities that he could have, because then he was part of our stipend scholar program,” Petrusha explained. “Once he went through the camp program, which was like 12 to 17, he then got into this scholar program, and just having him say that camp changed his life. It really made an impact on him to work hard, and he knew that he could achieve and have a good life if you worked at it.”
The camps are supported by fundraisers and work from the nonprofit to continue to provide programs such as the summer camps and school stipends.
“We’re a small drop in the ocean, but it ripples and we’ve really impacted some lives. For these kids to know that people care about them, and they don’t know these people,” Petrusha said. “When we go, I’m always like, ‘It’s not just me. There’s a whole group of people in the US that really care about you, who want you guys to have a childhood, want you to be successful, and to follow your dreams. They’re very, very moved by that.
She continued, “Kids are universal, and they just, you know, they need love and care. If we can, we want to help share that around the world.”
Ticket and art sale proceeds benefit UCare, Inc in its ongoing efforts in Ukraine.
“It’s heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same time because it’s heartwarming to be able to spend time with them, get to know them, but heartbreaking knowing the lives that they live, the things that they go through.” — Vera Petrusha, UCare founder {related_content_uuid}21848eba-37f2-4028-9a95-4085d9fd6b5e{/related_content_uuid}