Ukrainian artists create beauty amid tragedy

“When war touches an artist’s life directly, how does it change what feels necessary to say or impossible to ignore?”

That’s a question local Ukrainian-born photographer Elena Dilai asked herself as she watched Russia’s war tear her native country apart.

She says she and her fellow Ukrainian artists didn’t set out to make “war art,” but as the fighting touched their families, their language, and their sense of home, they felt compelled to respond creatively.

This hour, we sit down with Dilai and two of her colleagues to discuss how artists process war, the conflicting emotions that can come with creating beauty out of catastrophe, and what audiences can learn from art that’s rooted in private emotion.

In studio:

To see a performance by Olena Prokopovych, click here.