While the Russian army unsuccessfully tries to “liberate” Ukraine from its identity and independence by destroying churches, monuments, and museums, the “liberated” Ukrainian beasts expand wildly and worldwide. Because this is exactly what happens when you unleash the beast.

As the Russian army intruded and occupied Ukrainian territories in 2022, it not only destroyed the civil and critical infrastructure, but also the intangible assets and cultural heritage – with the blatantly declared purpose of eliminating our identity. The Ministry of Culture has registered 1271 (how much today?) cultural and historical sites that have been destroyed or damaged. In particular, Ukraine has nearly lost the collection of Maria Prymachenko’s artworks kept in Ivankivsky District Historical and Local History Museum (Kyiv Region). Fortunately, all 14 paintings were saved from the fire by locals, but this incident became a prerequisite for the project.

As four years of the full scale brutal war proved, the more harsh attempts the enemy takes to destroy everything Ukrainian, the more indestructible, viable and viral it becomes; the more intensively it spreads and grows. Ukrainian culture and essence don’t cease to exist after russian missile attacks and physical destruction — because, just as a map is not the territory, a museum is not the walls. Art, its imprint in the nation’s consciousness and genome are not as easily destructible as someone would like it to be. Neither are Maria Prymachenko’s fabled plots and realms — her unimaginable animals left the walls of the destroyed local museum to walk into a bigger world. To fit in the aesthetics of modern European cities — in the form of murals, street art,  trendy clothes, amusing stickers and memes, stories and articles.

And here is an obvious allegory at the heart of the project:  Ukrainian spirit and temper are like Prymachenko’s beasts — whimsical and incredible, and just as kind and amusing, as wild and irrepressible. So, while the Russian army is unsuccessfully trying to “liberate” Ukraine from its identity and independence by destroying churches, monuments and museums, the “liberated ” Ukrainian beasts expand their habitat range wildly and worldwide. Because this is exactly what happens when one unleashes the beast. ;