How we ground ourselves in the most difficult times

in focus

Painting from
the Heart

May 02, 2024

Wives, mothers, daughters of fallen defenders remember their loved ones in words and works of art.

Some had been with their husbands for many years, some just starting their life together — all cut short and destroyed in an instant.

In the ALIVE: True Love Stories initiative, the voices of bereaved women tell us about happy times filled with dreams and love, and how the war mercilessly ended it all.

He allowed me to be that girl on the wheel... full of happiness, looking to the future... always caught by strong loving hands.

Maria Ivashenko

Now there is a chasm in my soul. A hole in my heart like the hole in the head of my beloved.

Tetiana Vernihora

While the women of Ukraine's fallen heroes have experienced terrible tragedies, they are trying not to lose their strength and faith in life. They are finding how love can be strong, deep, and enduring — even after death.

As they put their thoughts and feelings of loss on canvas, their creativity transforms their grief into something meaningful — for themselves and for all of us.

The ALIVE initiative promotes emotional recovery and health.

Experts come to help survivors heal in a supportive environment. Drawing straight from the heart, each one tells their own unique love story. As they share their difficult experiences of grief and heartache with like-minded people, they reduce their destructive workings inside.

ALIVE uses a method of active visualization along with creative practice.

As the women paint, they honor the memory of their loved one and move beyond their loss.

Professional artists join in as mentors too.

The ALIVE: True Love Stories initiative organizes exhibitions in cities and towns across Ukraine. They have shown 800+ paintings so far, each paired with the artist's written story as a dedication to their fallen hero, a reminder of love's inspiration, a guide through grief into the future.

Each creation is a whole universe. War is no longer experienced by dry statistics of numbers killed, but through many universes that loved ones share.