The first mural from the series "Glory to the Heroes!" in the Cherkasy.

Our creative group is from the city of Kharkiv in Ukraine. We’d faced all the horrors of the war as early as of February, 24.

A month later, we found ourselves in relative safety in the central Ukraine (Cherkasy city). During the bombings, while sheltering in the basement, we realized how much our creativity affects the people. It gives hope and helps to go through the dark times. Therefore, we decided to create a series of murals named "Glory to Heroes".

About the project:

The project is dedicated to the heroes of the resistance. These are the soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, doctors, the Ministry of Emergency situations staff, volunteers, employees of communal services, entrepreneurs, seamstresses… how can we list them all? We dedicate our work to everyone who devotes their lives to helping the Ukrainian Armed Forces and our victory.
We produced the first mural from this series in the city of Cherkasy. A fundraising campaign was announced. Most funds were raised by the people from occupied cities and places where hostilities had been taking place. This reaffirms our belief that people need hope. Not only we completed the project, but also spent the rest of the funds on the purchase of bed linen for a children's hospital in the city of Bakhmut (Donetsk region), where fierce battles have been currently taking place.
The sketch was made using the American army soldier’s photo because we could not find a ready-made photo of the Ukrainian military soldiers in high quality.

Cherkasy is a magical city and the people are amazing! Olya Kurska, a young artist from this city, offered to produce a photo session with a local military for the mural and found a photo studio. The entrepreneur from the city of Zolotonosha, Cherkasy region, arranged with the Cherkasy military to participate in a photo shoot. Kharkiv photo artist Tetyana Riltsova tanyarambo.pro took the photo. In addition, Ivan Fizer, a local art celebrity, supported our idea on the Facebook page. The city of Cherkassy administration and the mayor of the city, Anatoly Bondarenko, made a huge contribution to the implementation of the project. We were provided with lifting equipment, accommodation and meals for the artist. Many town people helped as well. Great thanks to the charity fund "Help a Neighbour of Cherkasy" for the purchase of materials.

Creation of the layout:
We wanted to draw a warrior in a balaclava to support the fighting spirit of our soldiers, so that every soldier of the Armed Forces of Ukraine associates himself with our hero. 5 very modest soldiers came to us for taking pictures with a curator, who knew exactly which pose would look better based on her experience. It was the first time for the military people to go through the photo shoot, but we felt that they really enjoyed it. In general, this is probably one of the most pleasant things in our work to see how it triggers a smile on the faces of our heroes showing the general satisfaction by the process. Everything took place in the "Ptichka" photo studio, a nice studio by the way. We also took some private memory photos of all military people without balaclavas, they were very happy with that.

The project received enormous support from the military, who are on different lines of defence. We liked the phrase of one of the admirers of our work: "For me, this mural is a talisman. This is how the talisman now looks for the Ukrainians." Not everything was so smooth in the public space. Like any art project, our mural evoked different emotions. Cherkasy is a quiet place that has been almost untouched by hostilities. Many people are even afraid to let this new reality into their lives. But it seems to us that right now it is impossible to turn a blind eye to it. In general, the project turned out to be more than successful, and even the citizens who were concerned about the process were satisfied with the result.
The painting process was regrettably slowed down by the curfew, difficulties with the equipment and the fuel, problems with finding materials. But it doesn't matter.