Entitled Mom, I don’t want war!, the joint Polish-Ukrainian showcase brings together drawings by Polish children who lived through World War II and contemporary works by Ukrainian children who experienced Russia’s ongoing invasion of their country.
The works by Polish children date from 1946 and are taken from the Polish State Archives in Warsaw.
Those by Ukrainian children have been selected from the Mom, I See War website, the world’s first digital archive of drawings that show war through children’s eyes.
In their notes on the project, Dorota Sadowska of the University of Warsaw and Olha Kulinich of the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, wrote: “By putting images and words together in thematic groups: fighting, occupation, family, repression, resistance, destruction, victory-hope, we want to emphasise the fact of how similar the scenarios of military invasions are. The time changes, the place changes, the child witnesses change, but the war is always the same”.
The exhibition at the Mississauga Civic Centre - Great Hall is co-organised by the General Consulates of Poland and Ukraine in Toronto.
The Mom, I don’t want war! showcase has so far been presented in 16 Polish cities as well as in several other countries, including the US, Greece and Malta.
Tuesday was day 321 of Russia’s war against Ukraine.
(mk/pm)