The war against Ukraine
Olena Selenska, the wife of the Ukrainian president repeats it again and again in her speeches and interviews: We are afraid of being forgotten.
A small window of attention
The fear of being forgotten is not unfounded. Around February 24, 2023, the anniversary of the sad-bittren beginning of the war against Ukraine, there is a lot of coverage of the war.
But what attention will Ukraine receive after this anniversary? Will interviews, lyrics, poems, novels, documentaries, photographic art, or news programs turn to other subjects?
First Lady of Ukraine Olena Selenska in Kyiv © Ukrinform / Alamy Live News
Does the question that Olena Selenska is always asked – whether it is possible to get used to war, become a reality behind many doors?
Thirteen doors
DOORS is the title of the installation that the young Ukrainian artist Ruslan Kurt shows in Canada. The thirteen doors come from Ukraine, succeeds in bringing it close to the war:
The old wooden door of a rural cafe. The door of a school toilet. The splintered door that once led to a terrace. A door that had caught fire and whose polluted smell still rises to the nose when you approach it.
All thirteen doors originate from Ukraine, were initially collected in a gallery in Kyiv and transported from there to Canada. As part of an art project, the doors have already been on display in several cities in Canada and are currently on display in Toronto.
The security of not having security
No matter which door you close behind you in the evening: The door to a tiny room or a spacious villa. The closed door conveys protection and security, from what may be going on outside. At best, it simply means silence and home.
The destroyed doors allow us to understand how difficult it must be to have to live without this refuge of a locked door for almost 365 days already. At any time the door can be destroyed, set on fire, shattered, smashed, bombed by a Russian missile attack.
Whether it is a residential building, a school, a kindergarten or a hospital. Nowhere is quiet. Nowhere is safety. The only certainty is knowing full well that the bad news about injuries or deaths of friends and loved ones will not abate for the time being.
Outside our door
President Volodymir Zelensky, his wife Olena Selenska, Ukrainian diplomats, artists like Serhij Zhadan and many more, have been trying for a year to make us understand that the brutal war against Ukraine is happening right on our doorstep.
They are not getting through to everyone with this message.
The horror at the door
In the drama “Outside the Door” by Wolfram Borchert, a man returns home scarred by the war and finds that the horror he experienced outside no longer interests anyone inside, behind the door.
The door was closed for far too long
History professor Timothy Snyder explains it in his online Yale University lectures, “The Making of Modern Ukraine,” which can be viewed for free via YouTube.
We should not get tired even after this sad anniversary to learn more about and from history and to support the people in Ukraine.
This support is not charity, it is an investment in doors that we hope will soon be able to breathe again for all the people of Ukraine and for us, and that will remain open to the values that are important to us.
“Truth and love must defeat lies and hatred”.
Václav Havel
Illustrations © GloriousMe
