This week I’m “liveblogging” my trip to Ukraine. Unlike traditional reports, these posts will be shorter and more frequent.
The biggest mistake I made on my trip to Ukraine was failing to check out Banksy’s art in-person. That’s another reason to come back.
Banksy’s Street Art Masterpieces In Ukraine
Earlier in the war, British street artist Banksy popped over to Ukraine and created a trio of his signature stencil works chronicling the resiliency of the Ukrainian people.
View this post on Instagram
I don’t agree with all of Banksy’s messaging and I’m not sure we can even discern what his positions are on certain issues or if he is just pranking us (you can read more here about my thoughts on him).
> Read More – Banksy: Genius Or Vandal? A Provocative Exhibition In Los Angeles
Nevertheless, his artwork resonates me (these works included) and I feel stupid that I did not drive to the three sites where his work sits. I thought, wrongly, they were in the east, but all three are actually near Kyiv.
Ukraine has said that this artwork is of “cultural and historical significance for the country as a reminder that light must overcome darkness.” I agree.
Just this week Ukrainian authorities have enclosed two of the three works in a special shatter-proof glass in order to deter would-be thieves or vandals from heisting or destroying the works. Already, there have been multiple attempts on these works.
To be fair, I only had three days in Kyiv, but I could have made time for this. Mark it as another reason to return.
Update – I chose to take the bus back to Warsaw. There won’t be an updates tomorrow, but I will bring a full report of the journey back to Poland on Monday and then the flights home on Tuesday.
You may have chosen the bus to avoid the smokers. If you had taken a bus to the Polish border and then Polish Railways to Warzszawa, that may have worked.
I had seen some of the art but not this video. As I look at the creativity of Ukrainian art, I wonder how they will rebuild after this in that so much modern architecture is either boring or even worse, ugly and not even in a brutalist interesting way. I hope that Ukrainian ingenuity is applied. Ukrainians are marvelous engineers and repairmen who can fix nearly anything I bring to them. Poles notoriously take their cars there for repair.