November is the month when Ukrainians remember the Holodomor genocide, an artificial famine organized by the Soviet Union in 1932-1933 that took at least 3.9 million lives in Ukraine.
The Asters law firm joined the U.S.-Ukraine Business Council in contributing to the remembrance on Nov. 12 when it unveiled an exhibit of the most extensive collection of artworks dedicated to the tragedy.
“Many of the artworks from the exhibition had been hidden in personal art studios for years and are being shown publicly for the first time,” council president Morgan Williams said at the opening. “These artworks feature strong, dramatic and emotional images that depict the terror, persecution and domination suffered by the Ukrainians in the struggle for freedom, independence and identity.”
Williams has spent the span of his business career in Ukraine, which began on the eve of Ukrainian independence, gathering artwork on the Holodomor.
In his remarks at the exhibit’s opening, he pointed out that the paintings in his collection — 115 on display at the Asters offices — are the only extensive visual depiction on the genocide, since no more than 20 photos are known to exist due to the murderous repressions of the totalitarian Stalinist regime.
Most of the exhibit’s paintings were created between 1989 and 1993, he said. They are not limited to the Holodomor, but also various traumas endured under the Soviet government.
“We found 1 percent of Ukrainian artists who were willing to do something about their relatives, their family, their hatred of the Soviet Union,” Williams said. “We must have visited 500 art studios, and most of these paintings we found in the back of the art studio. Nobody bought them. They didn’t make any money on them. They did this out of love.”
Attending the opening were several artists whose works were on display or their relatives, including the legendary Ivan Marchuk, whose three paintings are included in the exhibit. A 1992 work by Mykola Bondarenko of Sumy Oblat depicts 60 linocut prints depicting 60 items that were used for food to survive the artificial famine.
Among those appearing at the opening were people involved in constructing Ukraine’s expanded Holodomor museum, which is scheduled to be opened for the 90-year commemoration in 2022-2023.
The museum, which would be among Ukraine’s largest, is planned for 15,200 square meters and two floors, expanding upon the current museum and monument complex located adjacent to Glory Park on the Pechersk Hills.
The Ukrainian government will finance the museum’s exterior structure, while private funds will be used to outfit its interior, said Ivan Vasiunyk, among the key advisers to former President Viktor Yushchenko, who is leading its development. Besides physical evidence and artwork, the museum will contain an interactive library, research center and exhibition hall.
Total state financing is targeted for $60 million, which will be matched by private funds, Vasiunyk said. The 2020 state budget has earmarked funds, in addition to money allocated by parliament in two budgets under the administration of former President Poroshenko. Numerous Ukrainian entities have also offered donations starting at $1 million, he said.
Meanwhile, the Holodomor art exhibit marked the 10-year anniversary of the launch of ArtAsters, a project in which the law firm has displayed Ukraine’s artwork to its business community. A new art exhibit is demonstrated semi-annually at Asters’ offices in the Leonardo Business Center in the heart of Kyiv.
“This starvation caused by the Soviet government costed millions of lives and someone had to remember that. Many would be very much silent for decades in the Soviet times, except for the artists, who had enough stamina to express themselves in visual art and to send this message,” said Armen Khachaturyan, Asters senior partner, who launched the project.
The public is invited to visit the law offices and view the Holodomor art exhibit, or any other exhibit displayed as part of the ArtAsters series, as long as advanced notice is given, Khachaturyan said.
Zenon Zawada is a political analyst at Concorde Capital. For more information, Asters law firm is located in Leonardo Business Center, 19-21 Bohdana Khmelnytskoho St., in Kyiv. The email is [email protected] and the phone number is +38-044-230-6000.
