Let's write about Ukranian resistance art

Echo opinion published in the The Washington Post:

Anna Husarska is a journalist and policy analyst. 

Mikhail Reva is a painter and a sculptor.

The horrors of war transformed a Ukrainian artist, throwing him into a nation’s effort to resist.

Two years ago, when Russia launched its war against Ukraine, Mikhail Reva, a sculptor, was working on a fountain in Dnipro, a city in the center of the country that is now close to the front lines. 

Before the full-scale invasion, on Feb. 24, 2022, Reva was known for public sculptures that could be found around the country. After the invasion, he became known for something else: protest art.
Through his work, Reva joined the resistance, as he puts it. He screamed his outrage with ink and paint on paper and, later, by welding chunks of shrapnel, broken shell casings and ragged missile fragments into giant metal sculptures. He used wartime materiel to craft a huge Russian bear titled “Moloch, the Beast of War”; he gathered spent bullet casings to create “Russian Souvenir,” a 1,200-pound nesting doll.

Reva lives and works in his hometown of Odessa. In 2022, his workshop was hit by a missile while he was in Bucha, the site of a searing Russian atrocity. His sculptures endured a close call when a missile hit the Odessa National Fine Arts Museum, in November.

Reva is now preparing a project for the Venice Biennale; it will be made from machine gun bullets. 😯😳

To my eyes, Reva’s work, like the spirit of Ukrainians, shines 🌞through even in the darkest of times. 💙
— Anna Husarska