Every artist’s journey is different. In individual interviews and requested opinion pieces with multidisciplinary Ukrainian artists, we make sure our nation’s brightest and most creative voices are heard.
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Mariia Ponomarova: “Ukraine-Washing” in Western Filmmaking
In this interview, Ukrainian filmmaker Mariia Ponomarova discusses the harm Western filmmakers can do by extracting Ukrainian narratives in documentaries without meaningful collaboration with or benefit to Ukrainians.
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VATAHA Recommends: “Graan / Зерно”
Created and developed by Lisa Weeda, Graan/Зерно explores Ukraine’s history, trauma, and resilience through one of its most symbolic elements: wheat.
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VATAHA Recommends: Old Masters from Kyiv in The Hague
VATAHA Recommends visiting Museum Bredius’ current exhibition of 17th century European paintings in The Hague. The unique part about it? Each masterpiece is paired with a similar painting from the Khanenko Museum in Kyiv, where the two museum founders first met and befriended each other in 1897.
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Lisa Weeda: All of My Projects Connect Back to Ukraine
“All of my projects seem to connect back to Ukraine, and that started with my family history.” Dutch-Ukrainian writer Lisa Weeda shares how her Ukrainian roots continue to shape her work, from Aleksandra to new projects, and reflects on working with VATAHA to bring Ukrainian stories closer to Dutch audiences.
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The Medal Design of Run For Ukraine 2025
At the finish line of Run For Ukraine last weekend, every one of the nearly 1000 participants received a medal, regardless of their distance or pace. VATAHA’s graphic designer Maria Petrochoko tells us about the theme of this year’s medal and the main message behind it.
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Run for Ukraine Stories 2025
When you join Run for Ukraine, you don’t run for yourself. VATAHA compiled an excerpt of the heartfelt stories of love and loss that remind us that Ukraine’s sacrifices were by no means made in vain – their memories live within us.
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Ukrainian International Ballet: Carrying Ukraine in every dance step
Born from the recently disbanded United Ukrainian Ballet, the newly founded Ukrainian International Ballet features heritage and innovation, bringing together artists to keep Ukrainian culture visible and evolving on global stages.
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VATAHA Recommends: Icons of Hope and Survival
Religious art has served as a source of faith and comfort for centuries, and certainly no less during the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. VATAHA Recommends visiting the traveling art exhibition Icons of Hope and Survival in Rotterdam, where warfront munition crates are transformed into beautiful portraits of hope.
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Run For Ukraine Stories 2024
“I am running for the city of Lviv. Rockets fly over my grandparents’ house almost every day. This is the city where I spent my vacations, the city of my relatives and friends. It hurts me to see it being destroyed.” – Danylo, 12 years old
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Marfa Vasilieva: Carpet of Love and Sorrow
The Carpet of Love and Sorrow is Ukrainian artist Marfa Vasilieva’s social art project, which invites Ukrainians to braid black and red cloths into a Dam Square-sized carpet to manifest their national loss. “I see it as my Guernica. A living, expanding protest against nazism, imperialism, and silence.”
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Christian van der Kooy: 1 month in Kharkiv
Dutch photographer and curator Christian van der Kooy reflects on a month in war-torn Kharkiv, capturing cultural life, artistic resistance, and the urgent need to tell Ukraine’s evolving story through art.
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Daria Lysenko: I Heard That You Are in the Netherlands
Daria Lysenko has published her latest collection of poems titled ‘I Heard You Are In The Netherlands’. In this interview, we discuss how her literary finesse and raw, real emotions have given life to the first Ukrainian poetry book by a contemporary poet to be translated into Dutch.