Ukrainian students and their peers at Arizona State University are organizing a public mural project to honor their communities back home in conjunction with the Phoenix Mural Project.
All fundraising proceeds are going toward a charity called EastSOS, which is working to evacuate citizens from the areas that are being attacked in Ukraine.
The mural idea was created by ASU student Iryna Demianiuk who is Ukrainian.
“I want to contribute to sharing the story of Ukraine and Ukrainians with the hope of making people aware of the events that unfortunately still take place in the 21st century,” Demianiuk said.
The mural will be located on Seventh Street in midtown Phoenix between Vernon Avenue and Wilshire Drive.
The mural will be painted with artwork that is intended to depict the characteristic features of Ukrainians and their culture. Every part of the mural represents a part of the culture, according to Demianiuk.
“We’re all very proud to be carriers of Ukrainian history,” Demianiuk said. “That is imprinted in such symbols as colors of our flag; freedom blue and energizing yellow. This will be a flower pattern in the sky as a reference to our embroidery of our national flowers.”
The painting of the mural will take place on April 23.
Danielle Foushée created the Phoenix Mural Project and is also a professor at Arizona State University. Demianiuk is in her art class where they decided to come up with the mural.
“Iyrena is in my subversive design class, and she said that she would love to do a mural for Ukraine. The whole class got super on board and decided to do it as part of the class,” Foushée said.
Foushée said that her entire class was for the idea, and they are all helping to create the mural.
Lauryn Robbins has created murals for the Phoenix Mural Project in the past, and she said she thinks that it is a great way to spread awareness for something.
“The fact that thousands of people are going to be driving by the mural every day and seeing it is pretty gratifying, ” Robbins said.
Twelve of Foushée’s students joined on Wednesday, April 13, to prep the wall for the event. Including Demianiuk.
“I think it helps them feel like they can do something meaningful in the face of this global catastrophe. It’s easy to feel helpless in the face of global issues. When you can send this message out to the world, I think it adds even more meaning to what you’re doing,” Foushée said.
Contact the reporter at gbmack@asu.edu.
