On Wednesday I attended Irinia Danilova’s presentation “War in Ukraine & Art” as part of Franklin Furnace’s Loft space.

irinia Danilova, who is Ukranian and has lived in the USA for a long time, presented her own artistic response to the war – a series of flags with messages for the country of each flag – as well as a range of anti-war art from artists in the Ukraine and other countries including Russia. Some of the Russian anti-war artists have been arrested for their work, while others work anonymously.

One of the projects she showed is “Theory of Protection” by the Ukranian artist Darya Koltsova, a window installation project which she initiated in 2014 after Russia’s invasion of Donetsk and Luhansk, and which Irina Danilova has created in her own window. Citizens tape their windows to prevent them being shattered during bombing; Koltsova turned this into an artistic activity, creating patterns of light and shadow, and invites others to create their own protective installations as a sign of solidarity. The taped patterns bring to mind buddhist mandalas in sand, Indian kolam, and other ritual pattern-making.

Irina’s presentation was recorded and is availble to view on the Loft website.

Below, Irina Danilova’s War In Ukraine National Flags series.