On July 15, the Association of Ukrainians in Belgium organized an event in Brussels introducing a creative tandem from Chernihiv, an artist and a poetess. Oksana Kornienko arranged an exhibition of her paintings and Larysa Dushchak presented a book of her poetry. The joint art project aims at helping rebuild the Chernihiv Children City Dental Clinic destroyed by a Russian missile in February. Moreover, the authors want to demonstrate that Ukraine is invincible and Ukrainians are ready to help each other regardless of where they are.
Oksana and Larysa spent the first month of the Russian invasion in Chernihiv, one in the occupation, the other under shelling and bombing. Fleeing the war, they met in a “wonderful, peaceful European country.” Everything seemed to be fine with them, “but every day you are looking for news from Ukraine and it is impossible to forget, even in beautiful Brussels, that you have to do something, at least what you can do – paint and write,” they say. And this is how the tandem was born – “two creative women from Chernihiv, two kindred spirits who inspire each other.”
Larysa’s poems convey her thoughts during the occupation, personal worries about the future of her country, memories of the previous peaceful life, and sadness for her loved ones who remain in Ukraine.
The book includes poems written both during the occupation and in Belgium and uses paintings by Oksana Kornienko as illustrations.