Ukraine, sow your wheat

Ukraine, take care of your wheat, we could say also this. This is the title of a collection of poetry by Ukrainian poets who express in their poems everything that the Ukrainian people feel during this brutal, unprovoked war, an attack by a powerful neighbour on a country that wants to live in peace, develop and be independent. Apart from unimaginable suffering and destruction, the war brings new forms of expression in art. All Ukrainian artists express in many ways what they feel about the tragedy of their nation. Works of art of extraordinary emotional weight are created. At times, I feel ashamed of how barren, compared to Ukrainian art, are works of art created in conditions of peace and prosperity. Ukrainian artists scream from their guts. For there is no louder cry than the cry of a nation whose enemy simply wants to annihilate it. To starve, to freeze, and to kill those who have the courage and strength to fight.

The world is opening its eyes to Ukraine

Yes, the war has made the eyes of the world turn to Ukraine. That this independent state is no longer seen as a former Soviet republic. We see and hear Ukrainians. And when we talk about art – we see their paintings and their graphics, and we read their poetry and prose.

Ukraine sow your wheat, a collection of poetry

Under this title, a collection of poetry by contemporary Ukrainian poets was published by the German publishing house KLAK.  It include poems of poets: Igor Astapenko, Yevgeniy Breyger, Yaryna Chornohuz, Ekaterina Derisheva, Daryna Gladun, Ilya Kaminsky, Iya Kiva, Boris Khersonsky, Marianna Kiyanovska, Oleh Kotsarev, Halyna Kruk, Myroslav Laiuk, Dmytro Lazutkin, Vasyl Makhno, Ihor Mitrov, Oksana Oslomovska, Lesyk Panasiuk, Halyna Petrosanyak, Oksana Sabuschko, Grigory Semenchuk, Iryna Shuvalova, Natalia Trokhym, Iryna Vikyrchak, Lyuba Yakimchuk. 

The volume was presented at Frankfurt 2022, the largest book fair in Europe. The presentation was accompanied by meetings, lectures, but also ordinary human conversation. Ukrainian wheat was sown in Germany. I have the pleasure of being the author of the cover design for this book.

KLAK Publishing House

The KLAK Publishing House is a place open to valuable literature from various corners of the world. One only has to visit the publisher’s website to see what a wide range of poetry and prose written originally in different languages (offered in German translations, of course) this place offers.

Difficult topics in art

Parallel to the Ukrainian war, there are wars going on in other parts of the world. Many of them do not attract the attention of us Europeans. Sad to say, but these are the facts. We cannot manage to be interested in all of them at once. And if one were to narrow the field of vision, small wars between groups of people or individuals are going on all around us. I want to express my disagreement with them, with all the violence of the world. I have contained it in a painting called Mourning. I believe that after violence comes solace, the kind that only one human being can give to another. Image entitled After the violence.