Hug me tightly… – MK

More than 120 works arrived at the exhibition from Moscow and the Donetsk People’s Republic. They were created by art school students from 9 to 15 years old.

And the most important circumstance of this action was the personal presence of many of the authors of the “pictures”, the opportunity to ask them about everything. But you understand how sometimes it is difficult to get a young artist—a creative person—to talk. He was used to expressing his thoughts with paints and a brush.

Visitors to the exhibition slowly moved through the halls. And I made an interesting observation: approaching the wall with paintings, each of those present suddenly froze. In an alarming silence, children’s drawings looked at people from the wall.

…In the foreground on the table there is a clock, a kerosene lamp, an unfinished letter, photographs hang above the table. And a little to the left in the depths are the images of two people – a man and a woman, frozen in a tight embrace. They say goodbye…as if forever. This work was done by Adelaide Khodorova, she is 13 years old.

– The worst thing is, every time you say goodbye, you understand that this could be the last time. That’s why our people always hug each other so tightly when leaving the house, as if they want to remember this hug every time. After all, God forbid, something bitter happens. And this last exchange of heat will remain in memory forever. For us, Donetsk residents, this topic is very relevant. I live in the center of Donetsk. Although the front line runs along the outskirts of the city, the center is also often under fire. My parents go to work and I am left completely alone. The very first and most terrible shelling occurred when it flew into a neighboring yard and blew away the roof of a nearby house. This happened in August two years ago. That was the first time glass fell in our house. It was scary, but most of all I was afraid at that moment for my mother: she could have come under fire on the street. There was no connection, I couldn’t get through. Yes, I was afraid for my mother, and she was worried about me. It was clear that there was something going on in the area around our house,” says Adelaide. – Since November 2022, the nature of the shooting has changed. Probably, the Ukrainian side had already used other shells – silently flying ones. And a person, for example, does not even have time to get up from the table and run to the vestibule. Everything happens in seconds. Our sirens don’t work because the front line is very close. And the shells fly much faster than the siren goes off. One of the last heaviest attacks occurred on January 1 of this year. As the chimes struck, explosions thundered a block away from us. And the second shelling took place at four in the morning. I saw a fireball rise right in front of our windows. It’s scary when you learn about the death of a girl you know from the neighboring yard, who is only a year younger than you. She did not have time to reach the shelter door, and she was torn apart by the blast wave. It was creepy when I found out about the death of my peer, a girl ballerina. She died on Pushkin Boulevard, where the shells landed. My mother walks along this road to work. Life ends accidentally.

“I have already traveled to Donetsk many times on a humanitarian mission,” one of the organizers of the exhibition, director of children’s art school No. 9 in Moscow, Roman Fashayan, enters the conversation. – Conducted master classes on modeling and drawing for children in art schools. He gave children’s drawings to the military. One day I was asked to go to a Donetsk hospital and support the wounded. There I met a career officer, assault lieutenant Alexei with the call sign “Leshy.” He was a peacemaker in Nagorno-Karabakh, served in Syria, and is now participating in the North Military District. Has 3 orders of courage. But in one of the battles he lost his leg, says Roman. “When I arrived at the hospital, I found him in a very depressed state. I talked to him a lot, encouraged him, told him about Maresyev. And before leaving, he gave Alexey one of the children’s drawings he had brought. As soon as he saw him, he immediately pulled himself up internally. Resurrected. After his discharge, he promised to come to Moscow and tell the children about his comrades in arms. I kept my word.

A man who lost his leg amazed everyone with his will to live. For many children, this meeting became a trigger for reflection,” says the teacher. – After the performance, the guys asked Alexey a lot of questions. He also talked about how a touching child’s drawing saved him in difficult times.

And then I met Katya Belokon and Burova Lyuba. These fifteen-year-old students of the Donetsk art school also presented their works. They differed from many drawings in that some special inner light emanated from them.

– My work is called “Wait for me and I will return.” I used gouache. The plot of the picture is that I depicted a happy meeting of two loving people on mining land,” says Ekaterina. – My husband returned home alive. Zhenya cries with joy. She did not doubt for a minute that this meeting would definitely happen. She waited, believed… My teacher Natalya Shamilyevna Shafeeva really liked this work.

Lyuba studies with Katya in the 6th grade.

– And I made a drawing on the topic “Where the Motherland Begins.” I depicted a house, an open window. And behind it is a green meadow, a lake in which the sky is reflected,” says Lyuba. – I wanted to express my love for my native place. I think I managed to portray a bright joy in which peace and quiet reign. A red cat is dozing on the window. And there is no place better than home.

The drawing of the youngest participant, 9-year-old Sofia Mikhaleva, showed a perky Russian nesting doll, a balalaika and bagels.

The jury members faced the most difficult task – to determine the best. Literally every child’s work was a small masterpiece.

-Have you noticed which shades predominate most in the guys’ works? A lot of gray and white. I couldn’t help but remember “The Ballad of Colors” by Robert Rozhdestvensky. Like a mother, she was waiting for her two sons to return from the war – one was red-haired, and the second had jet-black hair. The woman was lucky, they returned alive, but both were gray: “The legs are intact, the arms are intact – what else? They drink green wine, as usual… Both of their hair colors have changed. The hair became deadly white! You can see a lot of white paint on the war,” says one of the organizers of the exhibition, Yuri Korolev. – It so happened that the jury unanimously voted to give the Grand Prix to the drawing of 14-year-old Alice Muravyova. It is made in exactly the same colors as described in the Ballad.

Honestly, I couldn’t take my eyes off Alice’s drawing. A girl draws figures of people and the sun above them with her finger on the glass of a broken window. And somewhere far behind her, the destroyed walls of the church are burning.

– Alice is a 3rd year student at our school. This is a creative, talented person. By nature – slow. She is thoughtful and very serious. Like many creative people, Alice is reserved. And suddenly she brings this work. So soulful in essence. I saw the drawing and it gave me goosebumps. It was incredible,” says Irina Silina. Of course, I couldn’t help but ask Alice about how she managed to win over the jury members.

– I decided to choose the theme of war. Show it through the eyes of a child. Show what he feels, what he is going through. I thought for a long time before picking up a pencil. I have been drawing since I was 4 years old. This was my first time painting the theme of war.

– How old is the girl in the picture, and what is she thinking about?

– She is younger than me, she is 11-12 years old. She dreams of peace. To ensure that children are not separated from their families. I showed the temple because it is the personification of faith. The temple has just been destroyed. I wanted to show that those who sent the shells here have nothing sacred.

– Do you show your drawings to your parents?

– I usually don’t show it. And she showed me this work. Because I liked it myself.

– What do you want to be when you grow up?

– I want to become an architect. To design houses and give them unusual shapes. So that people can live happily in them…