A traveling Ukrainian art exhibition showing the struggle of women in that country has made its first stop at Eastern Connecticut State University.
‘Women at War’, looks at 14 female Ukrainian artists' work following the 2014 annexation of Crimea to the present-day conflict.
“Our students are often Connecticut born and raised and maybe the war sounds a little bit abstract to them,” said Julia Wintner, the coordinator of gallery and museum services at Eastern. “So, I wanted to show them that it’s really real and women are fighting along with men actually on the battlefield and on the front lines of the war.”
Many of the artists have managed to flee the country, but some are still fighting in Ukraine.
The exhibition offers personal insight into Ukraine’s fight for its sovereignty, and women’s fight for equality in other countries.
The gallery at Eastern is open to the public through Oct. 15, before the exhibition heads to Wesleyan University in the state, then on to Rhode Island, and ultimately Washington DC.
Wintner described the centerpiece of the exhibition: A sculpture of a loaf of bread, showing Ukraine’s importance in the world as a producer of wheat, but also represents the struggle for sovereignty in the region.
“So, these slices of bread that is on the sides of the sculpture are symbols of different countries that were part of Russia back then but now they want to be independent,” she said.
