Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and horrors of the war are on full display inside the Bread and Salt Art Gallery in Barrio Logan, in an exhibition titled "Ukrainian Voice Your Choice."
Every piece of art in the exhibit was made by artists in Ukraine during the darkest time in their lives, the pain evident in every inch of canvas, paper and screen. Curator Eugenia Brodsky, who is from Ukraine, said that pain must be seen and heard.
"Silence is also violence," Brodsky said. "So all of us, all of the Ukrainians, start to be very loud and just like all of these works they are like a scream."
Brodsky said that scream is many things, including a cry for help: "The war can’t be silent anymore. You can’t just have a comfortable life and do not see what is not going on in the world because something in this system broke."
The art, like the scream, is also purposeful and cathartic — a release for Ukraine’s most creative to show the world what they have seen, what their people have endured and are still living through.
San Diegan Jenni Prisk said seeing the art is emotional.
"It's so real that I immediately feel the pain of the paintings and of the people of Ukraine," she said. "It comes right at you in the paintings. They are stark and they depict the abject pain that they’re feeling whether they’re living in shelters, whether they’re running from bombs, whether they’re living afraid of the Russian invasion and these are very, very real."
The exhibit is also a sale with all profits going directly to 25 prescreened families who are still in Ukraine and in desperate need of help. Prisk was pleased about that.
"Very often the funds are not funneled where they should be and the fact that 100% is going to a Ukrainian family, I’m delighted," Prisk said.
Brodsky and her family came to San Diego due to the war in Ukraine. They got stuck abroad while on vacation and couldn't return home.
She may be more than 6,000 miles away, but she said she feels the heartache of her people and had to do something to raise awareness and funds. She said she hopes others are moved to help too.
"What is your mission in this life?" Brodsky asked. "Can you help someone? Can you feel this love?
The exhibit runs through Friday at Bread and Salt, 1955 Julian Avenue in Barrio Logan.
