'Icons on ammo boxes': New York to host unusual exhibition

In May, New York will host an unusual exhibition, ICONS ON AMMO BOXES (“Icons on Ammo Boxes”). It will feature works created by Ukrainian artists Sonya Atlantova and Oleksandr Klymenko. Elegant new york.

The exhibition will take place from 11 to 13 May at the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola on Park Avenue, at 980 Park Avenue New York, NY 10028.

The opening will take place on May 11 from 19:00 to 21:00. The program includes a solo performance by pianist Alexander Chaplinsky, who will play works by Ukrainian composers.

The exhibition will also be open to the public on May 12 from 12:00 to 17:00 and on May 13 from 10:00 to 14:00. Free admission.

This is a well-known project that travels around the world and collects money for Ukrainian military field hospitals. ICONS ON AMMO BOXES exhibitions have been held in more than 130 cities and have raised more than $500 to provide medical assistance to Ukrainian military and civilians.

ICONS ON AMMO BOXES - the image of the struggle of life and death

Real ammunition boxes brought from the front symbolize death. But the icons painted on them are the personification of life. Thus, the paintings speak of the unchanging victory of good over evil.

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With their project, Sonya Atlantova and Alexander Klimenko show that even violence and pain can be transformed into peace and consolation. Moreover, they can be made a source of financial support for the people who suffered during this war. The main part of the money received from the sale of icons will go to the creation and maintenance of mobile military hospitals and help children.

“Ammo boxes are usually stored underground. This makes them less likely to explode or be destroyed. They look like coffins to me. Once dug up, they become harbingers of death,” Klymenko explained.

He compared the boxes to monsters from horror films: "Zombies get out of the ground and kill, destroy all life."

To take these “coffins” that inspire a sense of fear and write an icon on them is to transform them, change their essence, oppose the horror that they carried in themselves before.

“We wanted to create a symbol that not only resists, but also conquers this death, defeats these zombies – turns death into life,” the artist explained.