At this watershed moment in European History, we no longer rely on war artists and press photographers to capture the raw emotions of war.
“The people I know, the familiar faces, cannot, and are not, ready to return home. Not yet, not until the end of the war. The air raid siren is howling over the city constantly”.
Historically, war stories have been told by war artists, press teams, and art (including photography) made by those on the front line; the civilian experience is overlooked when it comes to war. We live in a unique time of European history. Previous battles fought on the continent have lacked the interconnectivity that technology brings. For example, I can communicate directly via email and social media to build up a network of civilian artists currently stuck throughout Ukraine. This would have been impossible, even 20 years ago. After all, Facebook was only founded in 2004.
But first, I want to introduce you to Mella Rosa and her experiences throughout this conflict. At 34, she’s working as an international freelance illustrator, currently still based in Kyiv. It’s a hard thought to stomach that pre-February 24, life was somewhat normal, even if the threat of Russian troops on the border was on civilians’ minds. Rosa’s life was forever changed, “on February 24, at 5 p.m. I was awakened by a call from my mother. She said the war had begun. I heard the first explosions and knew the world I had known had gone. The next few days, I saw people leaving their homes; the lights were going out in one window after another. Kyiv plunged into darkness.”
This conflict contrasted dramatically even with the weekend before. “On the last Sunday in March, the city was flooded with the rays of the midday sun. It was a city I did not recognize: empty, silent, frightened. It was frozen in anticipation. My friends lent me a car, and I drove around the city, skirting past endless checkpoints. While driving, I saw a place I had dinner with a friend 6 hours before the war, a courtyard with a bar where we danced until dawn all weekend and an office where we discussed projects and planned months ahead. Past a church where our friend got married, the platform from which we loved to watch the city fall asleep…But that day, I needed to return home before the curfew.”
Rosa ultimately chose to stay in Kyiv, “my decision to stay in Kyiv seemed insane. I started to prepare for anything. I arranged a safe place to sleep in the corridor of the apartment and made a supply of food. Nervously, I packed a backpack just in case; there was very little space. I prepared a base and food for the cat. I made sure that I was ready to leave my house at any moment.” It’s an unimaginable situation. We have heard many pundits state that war of this ilk in Europe was thought to be contained to the history books.
Rosa’s mother is trapped in the Russian-occupied city of Kherson, her childhood home. Her father cannot make it back into Ukraine; he works throughout Europe on ships and was out of the country when war broke out. Mella articulates, “I am very lucky; I have not lost touch with my family and friends. However, since the beginning of the conflict, I have not been able to be with them. Access to them is blocked, and I do not know how long it will last; it is heartbreaking and the cause of much pain. Courtesy has become a measure of love and care between everyone far and wide. Of course, war is one of the worst things that a person can experience and go through. No one is ready for that. It causes huge amounts of stress that reveal a different side to people. I don’t know who I am anymore. Who am I? Is a question I ask regularly now”.
Rosa’s artwork represents the first month of conflict. It is immediate, reactionary, and representative of pure human emotion; an artist using her medium to cope and come to terms with what is happening around her. Raw and unfettered, it brings to mind such reactionary pieces as Picasso’s Guernica, “Over the last year, I keep returning to the idea that I want to develop as an independent artist. I am fascinated by how naїve art can convey complex emotions and thoughts through simple techniques and images. It soon became a way to deal with the situation,” says Rossa of her art.
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Perhaps the most reactionary piece, completed in the first month of the war, shows two women battling with the conflict and realizing that life has changed forever in Ukraine. The other is at a loss, dealing with the sudden change in her country, a reflection of Rosa.
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The serpent-like beast outstretched, reaching for flowers on a red background, represents missiles falling on the city at night and the resulting bloodshed. It serves as a reminder that nightfall brings danger in war. On her Instagram account, Rosa captioned the image, “that’s how spring came to my home. This is how devil’s creatures creep into the garden to devour pure hearts”.
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“I rarely use red as the main color in my work. But lately, it feels like one in my pallet,” Rosa captioned this piece on Instagram. A clear reflection of the tragedy of the human cost of war, it shows a timid cat sheltering in shrubbery without the family it once knew.
Fear and Hope. Hate and Love – The Barbed Lady.
This shows Rosa’s isolation in Kyiv, away from family and friends, alone. Sat barbed, unable to process the situation, she is clutching a piece of artwork she made before the war, representative of the sudden change in her life. The shooting stars bear no granted wishes but stand for the missiles that harbor death.
Image courtesy of Mella Rosa
