Art By Ukrainian Children Affected By War On Display In Sarasota

SARASOTA, FL — Polish artist Wojtek Sawa was 11 years old when he immigrated to the United States. It was a jarring experience, as he left his home for a new country.

“It was very traumatic for me. I left behind everything I was used to and love — my friends, my family my school — and found myself in a strange place with a strange language with completely different customs,” he told Patch.

Now, as he watches the Ukraine war and families suffering because of Russia’s invasion of the country from afar, he’s leaning into his own experiences to give the children affected by the violence, whose lives have been uprooted, a creative outlet.

Sawa has organized a showcase of artwork created by Ukrainian children — both those who are now refugees in Poland and some who remain in their homeland, despite the Russian bombing — at Chasen Galleries II, located at 3501 S Tamiami Trail, in Sarasota.

He’ll host opening events for the show Saturday from 6 to 8 p.m. and Sunday starting at 1 p.m. After that, the work will be on display Tuesday through Sunday from 2 to 6 p.m. through May 21.

As the war in Ukraine unfolds, Sawa has been affected by it “very deeply and emotionally,” he said. Not only is it “a very dangerous challenge to democracy and freedom,” but he understands the trauma Ukrainian children must be experiencing.

Poland has taken in nearly 3 million Ukrainian refugees, according to the BBC. Many of them are women and children, as the men stay behind to fight Russia.

With family and friends in Poland, Sawa has been in contact with some people who are hosting refugees.

“One of the things I’ve heard was some of these families, even though they’re in a very nice place in Poland, didn’t go out of the house for a number of days,” he said. “Everything outside of the house they were in was foreign to them. They left their loved ones behind. Their fathers, their brothers are fighting. This is really difficult for them.”

Wanting to show these refugee families, the children in particular, that they’re not alone, he came up with an idea for an art show featuring works created by kids since the start of the war.

“I want to be able to create a bridge for them to the outside world,” he said. “I thought having a connection with the world at large, not just the host who took them in, gives them an opening and shows them they’re supported and that people around the world have empathy to their condition.”

The art is also therapeutic for the children, who have experienced so much, Sawa added. “Kids express themselves through art and share how they’re feeling through their art.”

He connected with Artem Bykovets, the co-founder of UA Kids Today in Kyiv. The organization has been displaying art by Ukrainian children online since the start of the war, and Bykovets had hoped to find a venue somewhere in the world that might put their works on display.

The connection with Bykovets was “heaven sent,” Sawa said. “He was looking for somebody to do an exhibition, and I was looking for (art) sources.”

Jim Shirley, executive director of the Arts and Cultural Alliance of Sarasota County, and his wife, Barbara, have also assisted with the show. And Sawa’s wife, Basia, also an artist, has been instrumental in bringing the event together as well.

Around 70 pieces are featured at Chasen Galleries II. They’re all created by children as young as 3 and as old as 18.

Some of the pieces came from UA Kids Today, while others came from refugee children attending a Polish school and from a Ukrainian foster home for special needs children that relocated to Poland after the war started.

“The artwork is fabulous,” Sawa said. “They’re wonderful pieces of art and cover the whole gamut of reactions and expressions of the war. Some talk about life before the invasion, and some talk about what life will be like after the invasion, and some talk of war itself.”

While the pieces are not available for sale, anyone who donates $35 or more can choose from select prints of art featured in the show. After the show, the funds raised will be divided evenly among the participating youth artists.

As an artist, Sawa specializes in participatory installations and has brought this background into the show to create context for the children’s art.

The installation’s theme is a classroom environment, with art displayed on blackboard-like backgrounds and school desks arranged throughout the gallery.

“The desks and chairs are symbolic of the classroom, and there are artifacts on the chairs that speak to the tragedy of schools and kindergartens and hospitals being bombed and destroyed,” he said.

Other elements include a barricade created using the student desks, bulletins featuring real social media posts shared by those impacted by the war, and blackboards with vocabulary words.

“The children have had to learn words they’ve never dealt with before: subway shelter, atrocity, shelling, bombardment,” Sawa said. “Not only did they lose their peaceful way of life, they also had to acquire new words to deal with.”

The artist added, “This is not just hanging children’s pictures on the wall. It’s about building context and emotional impact.”