Ukrainian refugee’s artwork aims to ensure world ‘never forgets what Russia did’

A refugee who produces artwork inspired by her escape from Ukraine to the UK has said it is her creative mission to ensure the world “never forgets what Russia did”.

Anastasiia Nekypila, is originally from the city of Kremenchuk, central Ukraine, but first sought refuge with her mother, aunt and cousin in Krakow, Poland, before arriving in Emsworth, near Havant, Hampshire, in July 2022 under the Homes For Ukraine scheme.

The 28-year-old professional artist said her work previously featured lots of colour, but since the start of the war three years ago on February 24 2022, her pieces mainly feature black backgrounds – and many contain the yellow and blue of the Ukrainian flag.

“My mission became to tell the truth to the world and to permanently engrave this pain so that both I and the world would never forget what Russia did to my country and continues to do every day,” she told the PA news agency.

“The hardest thing to accept was that perhaps everything I had done in my life up until that day, and all the colourful and joyful art I had created, would no longer hold any meaning.

“At least, not for me, because war forever divides people’s lives into before and after.

“Even if I now return to creating vibrant art, it will never be the same as it was before the war. War becomes present in every corner of the soul, even in the lightest parts.”

“It was crucial for me to document and capture those emotional states, as well as to release them — holding all that tension inside felt unbearable,” she said.

Ms Nekypila recalls feeling an “impending horror” in the week before the war, which prompted her to create a series of drawings and paintings about Russia’s invasion on Ukraine entitled, “Wake up, the war has begun”.

The title of the series was inspired by the first words she heard when she awoke on February 24 2022.

One of her pieces in this series depicts a red outline of a man surrounded by blue and yellow smoke and a bird above him drawn inside an Easter egg, based on the Ukrainian pysanky eggs which feature intricate designs.

“They reflect injustice and a desperate cry for help to the world, the constant fear of losing loved ones who remained in Ukraine, the struggle to unfreeze emotions and feel something again, and the documentation of Russia’s war crimes,” she said.

She said she remembered a “sense of (the war’s) inevitability was in the air” in the days leading up to Russia’s invasion.

“There were numerous alarming news reports, calls to prepare emergency bags, information on where to find bomb shelters, and advice on how to protect oneself in case of an attack,” she said.

She also has used her artwork to depict her time as a refugee in the UK living with a British family.

One of her artworks shows a drawing of a stork – Ukraine’s national animal – drawn in blue and yellow dotted lines with a pair of white scissors made to look like it is cutting the outline of the bird.

She said the piece is designed to describe the initial feelings of a refugee forced to flee their home “as if you’ve been violently cut out of the picture of your world”.

“I thought time heals and that with each passing year it would become easier to just continue living my life or I would become more adapted to the pain – but that’s not the case,” she said.

“It’s impossible to adapt to war, the only thing you can do is accept it as a part of life.

“Last year, I was still holding onto hope for the war to end and for a return home, but today, I’ve come to realise that this may never happen.”

Senior officials from Russia and the US met in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday to begin talks on ending the war in Ukraine.