Art activism for Ukraine
The world is watching Russia’s war on Ukraine. It may be hard to focus on anything when human suffering and devastation is filling our newsfeeds and collective consciousness. The desire to do something, anything, is showing up in solidarity through aesthetic activism around the world.
In New York, artists launched hundreds of paper plans from the spiraling floors of the Guggenheim Museum to call for a no-fly zone over Ukraine, which Ukraine's President Zelenzsky has asked of world leaders. The 4:30 pm afternoon guerrilla tactic included a simple message written on the aerial art: “protect the skies over Ukraine.”
As our social feeds filled with azure blue and golden yellow, Lithuanian artists launched Creatives for Ukraine, an open platform where designers, illustrators, and photographers all over the world can submit their work for free use. "We want the whole world to see and share art and images that convey frustration, hurt, helplessness and anger that creatives capture so adequately," co-founder of the platform, Kristina Skindelytė-Galdkovienė told Dezeen.
Creatives for Ukraine is one of many online platforms, galleries, and individual individual artists who are selling their work for charities that directly support Ukraine relief - here’s how you can help Ukraine by buying art.
These examples of aesthetic activism reflect the intersection of trends such as Human Premium and Crowd Economy, where empathy for others fuels the desire to collaborate for good.
Anna is the Editorial Director at sparks & honey and author of sparks & honey’s cultural intelligence reports. She eats blueberries at 5pm every day, and when she's not writing, Anna is running across bridges in NYC, taking photographs along the way.