Icons on Ammo Boxes: Transforming Death into Life

Charity Art Exhibition of the Ukrainian artists 

SOFIA ATLANTOVA & OLEKSANDR KLYMENKO

The concept of the project authors, Sonya Atlantova and Oleksandr Klymenko, combines seemingly incompatible things: the attributes of modern war, and the ancient artistic language, which dates back to the European Middle Ages.

The main idea of the project is to transform death: the symbol of which is an ammunition box, into life: which in Ukrainian culture is traditionally personified by an icon. Thus, the Russian war against Ukraine is comprehended against the background of Ukrainian and even European history of the last millennium. The boxes on which the icons are written are brought from the war zone. In this way, the icons written on their fragments are silent but eloquent witnesses of this war.

This project has been displayed at a great number of educational and diplomatic institutions, European Parliaments, EU Parliament, 2023 NATO Summit, etc. (20 countries, 108 cities & 195 locations since the spring 2015), and the Parliament of Ukraine when Russian forces vainly attempted to target the latter with the Kh-47M2 Kinzhal, hypersonic air-launched ballistic missile, in May 2023.