Marta Trotsiuk has always loved Ukrainian contemporary art. Her personal collection brightens up her dim but warm living room in central Lviv, illuminated only by twinkling lights. Even when the power is on, energy conservation has become a way of life in Ukraine.
When the Russian invasion happened nearly a year ago, Trotsiuk recognized that Ukrainian art and culture — and her connections as president of the Ukrainian Gallerists Association — could be the weapons by which she contributed to the war effort.
She says the conflict in Ukraine has highlighted the importance of art and how it can help document history while offering insight into Ukraine’s dynamic culture. Trotsiuk hopes art can also be used as a pressure point to help end the war.
It took only five days for her to assemble like-minded Ukrainian artists and art curators in a group she called Culture Against Aggression.
Marta Trotsiuk, left, is interviewed on stage at an event in Taiwan. Trotsiuk and other Ukrainian artists and gallerists have been urging the international arts community to join a cultural sanctions campaign against Russian artists. (Submitted by Marta Trotsiuk)
“We decided to enrol in this cultural diplomacy,” Trotsiuk said. “We decided to communicate with our colleagues abroad and first ask them to impose cultural sanctions on the Russian Federation, and then to ask them to invite Ukrainians to talk on the international level through culture and art about the situation and about the truth that we have here.”
She said the ask seemed simple enough, but it was initially met with a great deal of resistance.
“When the war started we saw that many of our colleagues abroad — in museums, cultural institutions — they wanted to do something,” Trotsiuk said. “And they made a lot of mistakes.”
She says they wanted to bring Ukrainians together with Russians and Belarusians to show unity and to show that art can be bigger than politics.
“It’s impossible to have in one room representatives of those three countries. But our colleagues, they just didn’t understand that,” she said.
Sanctions aim to ‘put pressure’ on Russia
Trotsiuk has felt disappointed that some of the most famous and visible Russian personalities in the cultural sphere have failed to speak out against the violence their government is perpetrating. She said international institutions then giving them the spotlight is unacceptable, and that barring individuals from their respective fields may put pressure on them to change their approach.
This week, the latest ask by Ukraine on the cultural sanctions front has been for Russian athletes to be excluded from the 2024 Summer Olympics to be held in Paris, a request being supported by a lengthening list of countries from around the world, excluding Canada.
“For the whole Ukrainian sports community, this is a question of principle,” said Ukraine’s sports minister Vadym Guttsait.
Trotsiuk said it’s not hard to find examples to explain why Ukrainians and Russians standing next to one another on a stage can feel impossible. She points to a vivid painting on her wall, set in dramatic shades of pink. It was made by local artist Zirka Savka before the invasion.
“Her husband, from the second day of the war, he went as a volunteer to the army. He’s also an artist and he exchanged his paint brush for a machine gun,” Trotsiuk said.
She said Savka travelled to Taiwan late in 2022 with Trotsiuk, to showcase Ukrainian culture and the way of life that Ukrainian soldiers are fighting to save. All the while, she was worried about if her husband would live to see tomorrow. Trotsiuk said the idea that anyone would ask this artist or any Ukrainian to then share a stage with a Russian is unthinkable.
“And her art, it’s changed also because of the war,” Trotsiuk said.
Scrolling through Savka’s Instagram account, the brilliant pinks and purples are no more, swapped out now for reds, blacks and oranges. The images have a much more visceral, graphic or violent feel to them now.
Destroyed vehicles being used as artists’ canvases in Ukraine
As many parts of Ukraine rebuild from ruins, a project in Irpin has artists painting sunflowers on burnt-out cars to help raise funds for local causes. But not everyone is on board with the idea.
The shifting of art in all its forms will document the timeline of this conflict, of this dark chapter in Ukrainian history. The Ukrainian government has invested in a number of programs to capitalize on the country’s rich resource of artists.
One such program is the Metahistory Museum, which is publishing a work of art every day of the war to document the conflict’s progression from an artist’s point of view. Those digital images are then sold as NFTs (non-fungible tokens) to raise funds for Ukrainian cultural institutions, many of which have been targeted by Russian bombs.
For Alice Zhuravel, this project was a welcome opportunity to step back into the art world. Zhuravel had been trying to make a name for herself as an artist but last February, she felt so pressed by the urgency to help her country, she instead moved into the humanitarian aid sector, where she documents the experiences of Black Ukrainians and Ukrainians with diverse backgrounds.
“With the humanitarian work, you can see your results in the same day,” Zhuravel said. Initially, that’s what she needed, but a year in, she is eager to return to art in a public way. She has, all along, done it as a manner of reflection and self-care, and hopes to find more time and space for her art moving forward.
Artist Alice Zhuravel in Lviv, Ukraine, where she moved with her mother just days prior to the invasion. (Sarah Lawrynuik)
“Art, for me, is a very important field in the long-term, the best for social change and for the building up of positive culture,” she said.
The work she submitted to The Metahistory Museum was a digital 3D piece meant to document the tragedy in the destruction of Ukrainian land.
“They destroyed for many years our harvest,” Zhuravel said. “This harvest of grain and sunflowers, for example.”
The Metahistory Museum has raised more than $1.3 million so far.
This year, Ukrainian governments and citizens are engaging in broad conversations about how to remove Russian cultural influences from all realms of Ukrainian life — the derussification of the country — from street names to the debate about removing Russian poet and playwright Alexander Pushkin’s name from the theatre in Kharkiv. Conversely, Ukrainians are trying to reclaim other famous artists they say had been previously identified as Soviet, or Russian.
“It’s complicated because all the time Ukraine was suffering, we couldn’t get our full independence for a long time,” Trotsiuk said. “But our culture was, all that time, with us and identity also. [And it is time] to reclaim our art, reclaim our artists.”
Sarah Lawrynuik is a freelance journalist who reports on climate change and conflict and is currently based in London, UK. She’s covered news stories across Canada and from a dozen countries around the world, including Ukraine, Hungary, France and Iraq. She has also worked for CBC News in Halifax, Winnipeg and Calgary.
LONDON (AP) — With a few daubs of a paintbrush, the Brontë sisters have got their dots back.
More than eight decades after it was installed, a memorial to the three 19th-century sibling novelists in London’s Westminster Abbey was amended Thursday to restore the diaereses – the two dots over the e in their surname.
The dots — which indicate that the name is pronounced “brontay” rather than “bront” — were omitted when the stone tablet commemorating Charlotte, Emily and Anne was erected in the abbey’s Poets’ Corner in October 1939, just after the outbreak of World War II.
They were restored after Brontë historian Sharon Wright, editor of the Brontë Society Gazette, raised the issue with Dean of Westminster David Hoyle. The abbey asked its stonemason to tap in the dots and its conservator to paint them.
“There’s no paper record for anyone complaining about this or mentioning this, so I just wanted to put it right, really,” Wright said. “These three Yorkshire women deserve their place here, but they also deserve to have their name spelled correctly.”
It’s believed the writers’ Irish father Patrick changed the spelling of his surname from Brunty or Prunty when he went to university in England.
Raised on the wild Yorkshire moors, all three sisters died before they were 40, leaving enduring novels including Charlotte’s “Jane Eyre,” Emily’s “Wuthering Heights” and Anne’s “The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.”
Rebecca Yorke, director of the Brontë Society, welcomed the restoration.
“As the Brontës and their work are loved and respected all over the world, it’s entirely appropriate that their name is spelled correctly on their memorial,” she said.
In a case that has sent shockwaves through the Vancouver Island art community, a local art dealer has been charged with one count of fraud over $5,000. Calvin Lucyshyn, the former operator of the now-closed Winchester Galleries in Oak Bay, faces the charge after police seized hundreds of artworks, valued in the tens of millions of dollars, from various storage sites in the Greater Victoria area.
Alleged Fraud Scheme
Police allege that Lucyshyn had been taking valuable art from members of the public under the guise of appraising or consigning the pieces for sale, only to cut off all communication with the owners. This investigation began in April 2022, when police received a complaint from an individual who had provided four paintings to Lucyshyn, including three works by renowned British Columbia artist Emily Carr, and had not received any updates on their sale.
Further investigation by the Saanich Police Department revealed that this was not an isolated incident. Detectives found other alleged victims who had similar experiences with Winchester Galleries, leading police to execute search warrants at three separate storage locations across Greater Victoria.
Massive Seizure of Artworks
In what has become one of the largest art fraud investigations in recent Canadian history, authorities seized approximately 1,100 pieces of art, including more than 600 pieces from a storage site in Saanich, over 300 in Langford, and more than 100 in Oak Bay. Some of the more valuable pieces, according to police, were estimated to be worth $85,000 each.
Lucyshyn was arrested on April 21, 2022, but was later released from custody. In May 2024, a fraud charge was formally laid against him.
Artwork Returned, but Some Remain Unclaimed
In a statement released on Monday, the Saanich Police Department confirmed that 1,050 of the seized artworks have been returned to their rightful owners. However, several pieces remain unclaimed, and police continue their efforts to track down the owners of these works.
Court Proceedings Ongoing
The criminal charge against Lucyshyn has not yet been tested in court, and he has publicly stated his intention to defend himself against any pending allegations. His next court appearance is scheduled for September 10, 2024.
Impact on the Local Art Community
The news of Lucyshyn’s alleged fraud has deeply affected Vancouver Island’s art community, particularly collectors, galleries, and artists who may have been impacted by the gallery’s operations. With high-value pieces from artists like Emily Carr involved, the case underscores the vulnerabilities that can exist in art transactions.
For many art collectors, the investigation has raised concerns about the potential for fraud in the art world, particularly when it comes to dealing with private galleries and dealers. The seizure of such a vast collection of artworks has also led to questions about the management and oversight of valuable art pieces, as well as the importance of transparency and trust in the industry.
As the case continues to unfold in court, it will likely serve as a cautionary tale for collectors and galleries alike, highlighting the need for due diligence in the sale and appraisal of high-value artworks.
While much of the seized artwork has been returned, the full scale of the alleged fraud is still being unraveled. Lucyshyn’s upcoming court appearances will be closely watched, not only by the legal community but also by the wider art world, as it navigates the fallout from one of Canada’s most significant art fraud cases in recent memory.
Art collectors and individuals who believe they may have been affected by this case are encouraged to contact the Saanich Police Department to inquire about any unclaimed pieces. Additionally, the case serves as a reminder for anyone involved in high-value art transactions to work with reputable dealers and to keep thorough documentation of all transactions.
As with any investment, whether in art or other ventures, it is crucial to be cautious and informed. Art fraud can devastate personal collections and finances, but by taking steps to verify authenticity, provenance, and the reputation of dealers, collectors can help safeguard their valuable pieces.
