“Wake up, the war has begun.” These are the words that artist Anastasiia Nekypila and her fellow Ukrainians heard on the morning of February 24, 2022. It is also the title of a new series of drawings Nekypila has been working on since Putin’s invasion. “Since then, mornings have ceased to be good, ” she says. Previously, Nekypila painted on canvas in a colourful, childlike style inspired by nationally beloved folk artist, Maria Primachenko, 25 of whose paintings were destroyed in the bombing of the Ivankiv Museum on February 28. Now, she works mostly with the colour black and makes digital rather than physical works. “War has made me realise that I shouldn’t get attached to anything, because it can be taken away at any moment. For now, drawing in digital feels less painful and more secure, ” she says. Like so many other artists who have fled violence in Ukraine, she had no choice but to leave her collection of paintings behind. “I am preparing for the fact that I may lose them forever.”
All over Ukraine, monuments are being sandbagged, museum exhibits are being
