Hélène Litorelle
Children
2022

About the Item

Broken dreams. War diary from the Ukrainian shelter. This collection is dedicated to the days which I was spending during the war in Ukraine. I can’t say much, because when you are inside the situation, it is very difficult to realize what is really happening and you can not speak about it loudly. Every day merges into one day. You do not know what time or what date is it today, but you know exactly number of war days. I have expressed my feelings on paper and have put the words from the news into drawings of memories that are fixed in my memory like flashbacks. Day 12 In order not to be killed, people who left the war zone, glued the paper sign 'Children' in 3 languages on the windows of their cars. The choice either to stay or to leave was very difficult. It was a choice between the risk of dying from a bomb at home, or from dying during the roadtrip. It was horrifying. I remembered my dream. In that dream I was screaming, but my voice was gone and no one could hear me. Darkness was everywhere. I was feeling a horror and a primal fear for my own life and the life of my child... This piece of paper on the window of the car was giving a small hope for humanity from the side of evil. Later, I found out that cars with such signs were still under fire. The sign ‘children’ did not stop anyone at that time. Child’s cry only remotely allows you to describe the feeling when you find out how many innocent people and children suffered from the genocide in our country. There are no words to explain what happened. In my work, the scream is showed without a voice. This is when the soul is torn into a thousand pieces and you are dumb. You are frozen and do not know how to live on.

Creator:

Hélène Litorelle (1987, Ukrainian)

Creation Year:

2022

Dimensions:

Height: 8.27 in (21 cm)Width: 11.82 in (30 cm)Depth: 0.04 in (1 mm)

Medium:

Paper

Movement & Style:

Modern

Period:

2010-