Works by Ukrainian artist slain by Russia exhibited in Iceland

This was reported to Ukrinform by the organizer of the event, Nika's friend Kateryna Ilchenko, a Kyiv resident who has lived and worked in Akureyri since the start of the big war.

"This idea came to my mind right after I saw Nika's last video, with which she wanted to start her new thing, a joint project with journalists from Czechia about artists killed by Russia," Ilchenko said. "In that video, Nika says how many voices will never speak again. A few days after making that video, she was killed, too."

According to the organizer, she added to the video a story about Nika and her work, edited various episodes, resulting in a 12-minute film that is shown at the exhibition along with Kozhushko’s drawings.

Ilchenko received some of the works from Nika's father, some from friends, and some the artist had sent to her friend earlier.

"I wanted Nika's voice to be heard even here, in the north of Iceland," she said. "It is important for me to tell Icelanders that the Russian war against Ukraine targets not only our sovereignty, but also our identity, originality, culture, art, everything that defines us as Ukrainians."

According to the organizer of the event, the Akureyri art community immediately backed the idea of ​​the exhibition, which received coverage in local media. The premises in the Deiglan art space were provided free of charge, and there was no payment needed for printing Nika's works.

The exhibition will last until March 9.

Iceland has been actively supporting Ukraine since the very beginning of the Russian incursion. Icelandic leaders have repeatedly visited Kyiv over the past three years. In particular, on the third anniversary of the full-scale war in Ukraine, the new Prime Minister of Iceland, Kristrun Frostadóttir, came on a visit.

As Ukrinform reported, artist Nika Kozhushko was killed in a Russian airstrike on Kharkiv on August 30, 2024.