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Diese Ikonen aus der Ukraine waren während des ÖRK Treffens in Karlsruhe in unserer Kirche ausgestellt 

 

Icons on Ammunition Boxes

 

Icons on Ammunition Boxes are silent witnesses of war and symbols of victory of life over death. The icons are painted on wooden fragments from military ammunition boxes abandoned by soldiers on the battle fields in Ukraine, found by Ukrainian deminers and rescued by medical volunteers from the Pirogov First Volunteer Mobile Hospital. These icons transform the military rubbish smelling of death into life-affirming art. Images painted on these boxes bring hope for peace and justice to the country torn by war. They epitomize how violence and pain can be transformed into peace and consolation and serve as an important source of financial support to the Pirogov First Volunteer Mobile Hospital to make such transformation possible. 

Oleksandr Klymenko: The Mandalion, 2022,

Bottom of the box of AKM cartridges, tempera

 

 

Icons on Ammunition Boxes have been exhibited at the European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium, Parliaments of Ukraine and Lithuania, St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv, Kyiv Pechersk Lavra, and the Lithuanian Embassy in Ukraine as well as in many cities in Ukraine, Poland, Germany, France, Holland, Italy, Austria, Czech Republic, Canada and US.

 

ARTISTS STATEMENT

Transforming death into life. Transformation of war into peace. This is what everyone who faces the horrors of war dreams of. Icons on Ammunition Boxes project was our shared dream of peace in Ukraine. An icon can miraculously chronicle not only the events of two thousand years ago, but also the tragic vicissitudes of modern warfare unfolding before our eyes where hundreds of thousands are directly involved and millions are displaced.

It turned out that the icons’ classical contexts could be altered by painting them on fragments from military ammunition boxes rescued from the battle fields, thus expanding their symbols from the testament of Incarnation to the tragedy of modern war. A board on which a traditional icon is painted is similar to a lid or a bottom of a military ammunition box. This strange resemblance prompted us to paint the first icon of the project on such a board. We were pleasantly surprised and quite impressed by the reaction of the military and medical volunteers to our project, their enthusiasm, their willingness to bring those empty ammunition boxes from the battle fields. We consider them full participants of our project, a kind of co-authors. 

What carried death, in the process of creative act began to convey what in the Ukrainian tradition is associated with life – an icon. Military ammunition boxes are visually similar to coffins. Moreover, these boxes are, like coffins, stored deep underground in military warehouses and arsenals. The war begins and, like in a Hollywood horror movie, those coffin boxes appear in the world of God, death jumps out from them, destroying everything in its path. But the final chapter in its destructive journey is written by the artist when the boxes carrying death begin to radiate life. One of the core metaphors of our project is that military ammunition boxes after the battle get a new life, acquire a new function, become icons – symbols of victory of life over death.

Another important part of the project is volunteerism which became an example of self-organization of the Ukrainians, a kind of test of humanity, a clear manifestation of grassroots democracy. Perhaps volunteering is what the modern Ukraine is most successful at, something we, as Ukrainians can be proud of and share with the world.

It seemed unethical for us to keep sale proceeds as if profiting from death and war. That’s why we decided to turn our art project into a charitable initiative. For example we supported the Pirogov First Mobile Volunteer Hospital

 

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

SONIA ATLANTOVA      (b.1981, lives & works in Kyiv, Ukraine)

Graduate of the National Academy of Fine Arts and Architecture. Works in the field of monumental and easel painting, book graphics, installations. Participated in exhibitions in Ukraine and abroad. Her books were included in short and long lists of several literary awards in Ukraine and abroad, in particular – „BBC Book of the Year“.

OLEXANDER KLYMENKO     (b.1976, lives & works in Kyiv, Ukraine)

Graduate of the National Academy of Fine Arts and Architecture (1998), Institute of Art History, Folklore and Ethnology and National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (2002). Taught at the Kyiv State Institute of Decorative Arts and Design and at the Higher Humanitarian Theological Courses (Kyiv). Participated in exhibitions in Ukraine and abroad, organized of a number of literary and artistic events and performances. Author of the idea and one of the curators of the project „Icons on Ammunition Boxes“.

 

Mariupol Deesis

“Mariupol Deesis. A cycle of works dedicated to Mariupol, its defenders and its inhabitants. The cycle was finished in April 2022. Eleven icons that seemed to be written with tears and blood. Works that for a long time I could not, did not dare to publish anywhere, and which I could hardly show to anyone. Too painful, too personal…

When I wrote I  remembered Mariupol in spring, when it was still whole, not bombed, warm, spring… I thought how we brought our project „Icons on boxes from cartridges“ there in the spring of 2015…

It was difficult to write, but it was even more difficult to let go… something was holding back… maybe it was that I was afraid to tell the truth, or maybe I was ashamed that I was not with them, those who are still there in inhumane conditions and at the same time support all of us…

But I finally let it go…

A combination of tempera, charcoal, gold leaf…

A classic Byzantine icon and „moonscapes“ of a bombed-out city, hieraticism and expression… love and…”

 

Oleksandr Klymenko, Mai 2022

 

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Fortsetzung Zukunftstag