The minute Russia invaded Ukraine, the Kyiv-based art dealer had packed a small suitcase, a hairdryer, and a single, framed watercolour and headed to the border with Romania.
In addition, Shchelushchenko's gallery was filled with many artworks by three other artists, Mykola Bilous, Yaroslav Derkach, and Rustam Mirzoev. Each is Ukrainian, and each resides in a place already under Russian control or actively threatened by Russian troops. After some discussion, the two dealers decided they owed it to these artists to get that art out of the city."We needed to put the art in a cave or somewhere underground," said Shchelushchenko.
He decided to drive his wife's bright-orange Subaru."It's like an exotic bird, and it definitely doesn't look like the enemy," he explained. Armed with any documentation he could find proving that his primary residence and business are in Kyiv, he made his way through a series of checkpoints, convincing a string of wary guards that he was not, in fact, a Russian agent.
"They ask you where you're going, if you're from another city, so you need at all times to speak with conviction about what you're doing, and what your motivation is," he said."And also, you need to speak the Ukrainian language." So on a Sunday, she decided to drive back too. Sitting in the passenger seat -"my friend is a much faster driver than me" - they made it back to Kyiv in about eight hours, stopping once to get gas. Following a small queue of cars through checkpoints, Vozianova made it to the city centre."It's pretty weird in Kyiv," she said."It's very, very quiet. You can hear birds singing.
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