Melik Kaylan
Melik Kaylan, based in New York, has covered international affairs and geostrategy since 1999. He co-wrote two books on the new Cold War and the Russia-China Axis. He has written from warzones for, among others, Newsweek, Politico, Forbes.com, and the Wall Street Journal where he reported on culture in areas of conflict. He has traveled as a journalist from the China-North Korea border to the Caucasus, to Iraq, Iran, Syria, Turkey to Eastern Europe.
Having spent many a long year covering culture in war zones (among other topics) for The Wall Street Journal, this particular Forbes contributor learned the geo-strategic importance of culture the hard way. The current Russian regime understands it all too well, which is why it insists that Ukraine has no independent culture and why Russian forces keep targeting churches, town halls, community centers, museums, schools and the like. It’s also why in the West we need to recognize and support Ukrainian cultural expressions — historical and contemporary — as a core concern in Ukraine’s fight to survive.
Why is culture so crucial in times of conflict? Readers will recall that, during the Blitz, and throughout the various fronts, Britons circulated theatre troupes and famous writers, collectively sang hymns and popular songs, protected artistic works in country while generally keeping culture ever alive in the presence of the beleaguered. They maintained that it cheered up troops and civilians alike. But it does more than that. It gives you the sense of identity and community to bolster your inner resistance, to posit a collective consciousness that will continue even if you don’t.
It reminds you what you’re fighting for, what normalcy feels like, and what life will be like when peace returns — on your terms. Historical culture gives a sense of continuity: Your people existed, exist and will do so in the future. Contemporary culture gives a feeling of there being reserves, functional zones, depths of human resources where artistic expression still flourishes — the home worth saving. A home within you and without. And, of course, it allows artists of all media to filter and cohere and make shape out of chaos.
I wrote an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal in August, 2022, at the time of all the brouhaha over Ukraine’s president and first lady appearing in a glossy Vogue feature. The op-ed defended the photoshoot with the argument that Ukraine must be allowed to celebrate its distinguishing sensibility, its preoccupation with the good life, with beauty, fashion, food, art, its sunnier identity compared to the predatory, power-mad obsessions of its frozen northern neighbor. And we in the West must help Ukraine do just that — a country fabled for its fecund farmlands, and blessings of nature. It is, in effect, the Italy of the region with a comparably luminous lifestyle. If left alone to flourish. Which is precisely why Moscow insists on trying to sow poison in Ukraine’s consciousness through sheer vindictive envy.
And so it falls to the rest of us to support Ukraine’s dolce vita idylls and cultural endeavors. Here is a peerless heart-stirring article that won a journalism prize in the Irish Times about Kyiv’s nail salons (and much else): “The seemingly frivolous pursuits of beauty and fashion signal a determined endurance in hard times.”
Bless the author Liz Cookman for honoring the female arts, the women who ply it, the crucial but oft overlooked steel in the country’s spine. Let us all keep a lookout for others who contribute to Ukraine’s soft-power side and praise them. To begin with, we can praise the sparkling achievements of Aksenia Krupenko, who mounted a multi-dimensional artistic show, banquet and charity auction (with Christies) for Ukraine. The extravaganza took place at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London on August 22, entitled “The Art of Saving Lives,” symbolically much of it in the world-famous Raphael Hall.
To quote the mission statement, “The Art of Saving Lives is on a mission of cultural unity, fostering connections between Ukraine and countries worldwide on the path toward humanity. ‘The Art of Saving Lives’ is a unique charity project has five main goals: to empower creatives, preserve heritage, educate creators, facilitate cultural exchange, and, most importantly, catalyze a creative Renaissance.”
Highly laudable but perhaps surprisingly luftmenschy in a time of war. Well, yes, but, any smart analyst who understands that culture comprises yet another front in the struggle against Russia must detect a deeper significance to the blurb than the seemingly feel-good sentences at first suggest.
What we see here, and what the audience witnessed in the performances, is a striving to universalize Ukraine’s struggle so that other cultures and countries identify with it. “Here’s what Moscow is trying to obliterate,” the underlying message unquestionably suggests, “a treasure that belongs to the world.”
Above all, it’s an inspirational attempt to confront brutality with poetry and art. To that end, for example, one of the astonishing pieces of the unforgettable evening featured a multimedia dramatization by the 3D artist Artem Ivanenko around images of Banksy’s artworks painted on the sides of ruined buildings around Kyiv. Another riveting tour de force featured the famed violinist Moisei Bordanenko, freshly plucked from the front lines, playing in full combat camouflage to a rapt audience feasting on the multi-course creations of a famed Ukrainian chef, the Dubai-based gastro-diplomat Yurii Kovryzhenko. Here is a review in the British press of the Victoria and Albert museum evening
Aksenia Krupenko, who conceived and organized the evening, deserves attention for her relentless energetic determination of the kind that embodies the spirit of Ukraine. Krupenko is based in Washington, D.C., and is an event planner by profession and the founder of Revival Foundation, which has sent 13 Airbus 330s, 35 sea containers, and 650 tons of humanitarian aid and medical supplies to Ukraine since March 2022. As a result, all hospitals in Ukrainian critical zones continuously receive medical equipment and supplies.
Now let us praise another non-profit of distinction, one that helped mount the museum evening, presently London-based and dedicated to global democracy, most notably Ukraine’s visual arts. The foundation is Art Shield led by the famed Anglo-French actor and artist Edward Akrout, with a historic location in Clerkenwell named the Old Session House. In that former courthouse, many were sentenced to deportation. Charles Dickens worked there when young and observed the kinds of human dramas he later made into novels.
In June, Art Shield launched a three-day celebration of Ukrainian culture there with art, live music (five bands) and panels that included the brave and beauteous and renowned TV correspondent of the war Shelby Wilder. The next location, this time a money-making gallery to help Ukrainian artists, will be in London’s fabulous Mayfair district.
Source: Forbes
