Together with our partners at Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom (FNF), we launched a remarkable collection of illustrations on the topic of Reshape Europe – The Future of Ukraine to highlight hope and courage in the face of the ongoing conflict. It is part of Being Ukraine, our series of creative collaborations on the immense power and resilience of the Ukrainian people.
To create the collection, we brought together 15 talented artists from 9 European countries for SPRINTS, our creative bootcamps, in which visual artists are given a thrilling challenge: a mere 48 hours to conceptualize and craft compelling visual artworks that address a specific issue.
The participating artists are as follows: Anina Takeff (Bulgaria/Germany), Carilla Karahan (Türkiye), Ieva Ragauskaitė (Lithuania), Janine Rwell (Finland), Judit Zengővári (Hungary), Maks Graur (Moldova/Romania), Marta Leshak (Ukraine), Olga Mrozek (Poland), Oksana Drachkovsk (Ukraine), Rozalina Burkova (Bulgaria), Tania Yakunova (Ukraine), Tanya Shyika (Ukraine), Teo Georgiev (Bulgaria/Finland), Tetiana Korniichuk (Ukraine/Lithuania), and Veta Yatsenko (Ukraine).
It is a critical time for democracy in Europe. Тoday, we find ourselves facing a new set of challenges that threaten to undermine the progress made so far – from the rise of war, authoritarianism and far-right leaders to the erosion of common democratic values in many countries within the EU and beyond. The SPRINTS initiative is part of FNF's global campaign #ReshapeEurope to strengthen Europe’s resilience. Together, we tapped into the potential of artists’ creativity and visionary talent to unleash hope and solidarity, while demonstrating the unwavering spirit of the Ukrainian people amidst the ongoing war.
The resulting collection of 22 captivating illustrations – with versions in English and Ukrainian – is available online under a specific open license on TheGreats.co, our unique global platform dedicated to open-licensed socially engaged visuals. This means that activists, organizations, and educators around the world can freely use and adapt these artworks non-commercially for their communications and campaigns in support of Ukraine.
“In the fight for human rights, hope is not just a strategy; it's a promise of a brighter future. Our SPRINTS format brings together visual artists to create artworks on a specific human rights issue, rooted in hope. This serves to imagine our future and acts as a compass to take us there. The bootcamp is a unique platform for illustrators, graphic designers, and typographers to amplify their creative voices and contribute to meaningful societal dialogues,” says Fine Acts.
Artists were able to choose between two topics to work on – portray the remarkable resilience and courage of Ukrainian people in the face of conflict, highlighting everyday acts of resilience, heart, and strength, or depict and encourage solidarity across Europe by illustrating what support looks like, including donating, volunteering, and countering disinformation to humanitarian aid, and reaffirming acts of solidarity.