Collage for Peace 🇺🇦 – FUNDRAISING

★★★

THE STORY

Thursday, February 24, 2022, 5:30 am.
Vladimir Putin announces during a televised speech a specialized military operation in order to demilitarize and ‘denazify’ Ukraine.

February 24, 2022, 7:30 am.
I slowly emerge from the sleeping haze. No time to check the news, today I have a super busy schedule: print the posters for my upcoming exhibiton opening and distribute them in town, book a room for my kids creative Workshop, create and order the flyers, take pictures of my new artworks from all angles for my website…

In the car, the news on the radio suddenly break me out of my bubble: Russia has invaded Ukraine. Missiles, panzers, wounded, dead. All this seems surreal to me. Here, in Europe, in 2022? But how is that possible?!

Saturday, February 26, 2022.
While the Russian army has taken possession of Chernobyl, while it is marching inexorably towards Kiev and while the men, women and children of the Ukrainian capital are preparing to fight back or flee, we pack our bags to go on vacation in Italy. Unreal.

During 5 days, we enjoy the sun shining on the Lake Maggiore, its delicious restaurants and its rejuvenating hiking trails. In the evening, when returning to our apartment, we turn on the TV and we watch the news. Stunned by so much violence, close to home.

Strangely enough, it’s the first time that a war moves me so much. Yet, I have seen other videos of bombs pulverizing villages, of bloody soldiers and families in distress. But this time, it is closer, more palpable, more disturbing. From our home in Bavaria to the Ukrainian border, it’s just 1 000 km. The same distance to go to the northest city in Germany…

I am aware of the hypocrisy of the situation: when it’s far away, we quickly move on, but when there are only two small countries separating us, our hearts sink. It is as if the distance turns the pain of human beings into something vague, abstract.

With my boyfriend, we ask ourselves what we can do to help. Donate material or money? Drive to the border to bring food?

My brain is working at full speed: what if I create a new Charity-Project? A collage representing Ukraine with a dove… Or no, rather Europe as a whole. Solidarity, unity. With the colors of the Ukrainian flag?

The next day, several banners hanging on the balconies of the locals catch my eye:

Of course, the flag for peace!

You probably know it as the banner of the LGBTQ+ cause, but did you know that the rainbow colors were originally from the “bandiera della pace” or peace flag? It was first used in Italy in 1961 during a march for peace. It was not until 1978 that it became the emblem of the homosexual community during the San Francisco Gay Pride.

So it’s decided, I’m going to draw a map of Europe and fill it with rainbow colors. I will make a colorful picture, symbol of hope and solidarity.

While all these ideas are flowing in my head, the war continues. So does life. We return from vacation, I go back to school, I throw myself body and soul into the creation of the collage.

Collage for peace, I decide to call it.

The goal: to make a donation to an association. I search on internet until I come across a figure that catches my eye. With 89€, the organization Save The Children can feed a Ukrainian family in distress for a month. If I double the amount, that’s 2 families that can be taken care of thanks to my charity project.

I am convinced: the project is launched.

Now it’s up to you to make this wonderful idea happen 💛💙