Ukraine: Former lecturer has created an art exhibition of her experiences with the war

Ukrainian artist, Nataliia Diomidova, will launch a solo exhibition of her latest paintings at Art Space Portsmouth on March 3, between 6 and 8pm.

The former psychology lecturer from Kharkiv has created ‘Awakening’ which is a series of paintings that explore the events unfolding in her homeland and in the UK.

Nataliia was uprooted from her home when Russia started the war with Ukraine a year ago.

With a small backpack, Nataliia left behind her husband and she travelled by train with her dog, Matilda, through Poland, Czech Republic, Germany, Austria, France, before finally reaching Portsmouth, where her sister Helen has been living as a language tutor.

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Unfortunately the stress was too much for Nataliia’s dog and she sadly died which has been extremely traumatic for Natalii.

Art seems to be her only way now to try and make a living now, maybe also in the future, as the university where she worked in Kharkiv has been destroyed.

Nataliia said: ‘When people do something with their hands, draw, sculpt from clay and so on, they pour out their feelings, emotions and thoughts that they did not realise or poorly understood. And only after that they realise what’s happening to them, and in which direction they need to move.’

Her exhibition at Art Space came about when one of the resident artists, Adrian Mundy, saw her work being displayed at the art market in Southsea Cinema before Christmas and offered to help arrange an exhibition.