Ukrainian Art as Cultural Diplomacy: Anna Avetova on War, Identity, and Supporting Artists
Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Publication (Outlet/Website): Special Correspondents
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2026/10/13
How can Ukrainian art serve as cultural diplomacy while documenting war, displacement, occupation, and the experiences of affected communities, while sustaining artists and galleries?
- 13/10/2026
- Celebs, Cуспільство, Новини
By Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Independent Journalist and DLH Coordinator
Biography and Interview Overview
Anna Avetova is a Ukrainian curator and arts professional working internationally, and the founder and strategic director of TUASHO and director of ART KYIV, working with galleries, artists, collectors, and cultural events during wartime. Her practice emphasizes supporting Ukrainian art, supporting diverse artistic expression, increasing international visibility for Ukrainian culture, and sustaining creative communities affected by occupation, displacement, and Russian attacks.
In this interview, Scott Douglas Jacobsen and Anna Avetova discuss art as cultural diplomacy during Russia’s war against Ukraine. Avetova explains how Ukrainian artists communicate trauma, occupation, displacement, and cultural identity, while describing limited foreign attendance at her events, concerns about the coming winter, shifting domestic demand, and the challenge of sustaining local artistic communities.
Art as Cultural Diplomacy
Scott Douglas Jacobsen: Do you see art as cultural diplomacy?
Anna Avetova: Yes.
Jacobsen: How?
Avetova: I think that art, in general, is diplomacy. It can talk about very hard things in different ways and find a language for different people. I think it’s easier because people from art and culture are a little more open to different opinions, and they can have these dialogues.
I’m not talking about dialogue with enemies. But in general, diplomacy means that we can make our culture more visible and show our problems more accurately. People from abroad have to know what is going on here. They say, “Hello, how is it in Kyiv? It’s good, it’s good?” Everyone asks, “Is it good now? Is it okay now? Is it safe? Are you going to…” And you start to cry because it’s still not safe. The attacks continue, and they don’t understand how it works.
But through art, we can show something.
International Buyers and Foreign Engagement
Jacobsen: In the art world, there is a general sense, as there is in society more broadly, that A, people don’t understand that the war is still happening; B, people are exhausted; and C, it’s not fine.
In fact, it’s worse than fine and civilian casualties have increased. OHCHR reports that civilian casualties from January to August 2026 were 55 per cent higher than in the same period in 2025. Russian attacks are killing and injuring civilians across Ukraine. To me, they’re treating all of Ukraine essentially as a military object. Civilians and buses in Zaporizhzhia and elsewhere are being attacked, for example. How many international buyers come to Kyiv to buy art?
Avetova: We have a few, but these are people who are already in Ukraine. They work here or do something here, and they can come and even buy. Yesterday, a guy from Great Britain bought a piece of art. Overall, there aren’t many.
We haven’t had many foreign visitors at our events. There have never been that many foreign visitors at our events. We have a few, but it’s not about deliberate cultural engagement, again. They’re not coming here to support us or to see our culture.
They just come to buy something for their home or something like that. I wish more people from abroad would come. Last time, when we held it in May, more people came, including groups from different international companies that work here.
But this time, unfortunately, there aren’t as many.
Cultural Destruction, Occupation, and Regional Artistic Communities
Jacobsen: Domestically, we know that Russian forces have looted artworks from Ukrainian museums, including during the occupation of Kherson. In some sense, you could see the obstruction, theft, or destruction of art as the reverse of diplomacy, an act of war, a cultural war, which this is as well.
Within the parts of Ukraine under Ukrainian government control, are you seeing participation by artists and buyers from occupied eastern and southern regions?
Avetova: They come a lot. And there are even more, I think. Over maybe the last year, I have met a lot of people from the occupied parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions and other territories under occupation.
And now, from the occupied parts of the Kherson region too, from the east and south. They are so artistic. These people are so deep. Some of the people I have met from Donetsk and Luhansk have a double trauma from the war because they experienced it first in 2014 and then again with the full-scale invasion in 2022. People from occupied Kherson and other southern territories have endured the full-scale invasion and occupation since 2022.
And most of them make art around these topics. I don’t know whether it is good or bad. In general, I don’t know whether it is good or bad to make art only about the war or the situation. But for the last, I don’t know, ten years, we have been living in this environment. Of course, we want to think about it and show it.
From my experience as a curator, I don’t like these topics because, for me, they are too heavy. I live in this, and I don’t want to work in this. I want to work with something else.
Diversity in Ukrainian Art
But generally, I think that if we’re talking about diplomacy and about showing Ukrainian art everywhere, even in Ukraine, there should be a very big diversity of everything. There should be more conceptual art, but it is also very important to have art simply for interiors or something like this. That is important too, because people are different, and art should be different, too.
Even when we make projects abroad, I know many projects that aren’t conceptual but are very nice, about nothing in particular, shown in places like centres in Geneva or somewhere like that. They can also have an impact because they draw attention from a government or someone else through this art. It may be a small piece, but it still has value.
Art Collecting During Wartime
But in spring, buyers had that opportunity to spend because, after the winter, they already felt that summer would be manageable. So they wanted to feel happiness. They wanted to buy something beautiful and support art. From what I have seen, a lot of people created collections during the war because pricing and negotiations can make buying art easier than in peacetime.
It is a little easier because sellers understand that it is better to sell than not to sell. Now, I think people are a bit frustrated by the general mood, and they are waiting for winter. I expect the coming winter to be harder than before. So I think we will see after winter what is going to happen.
Post-Fair Sales and Supporting Galleries
It is very, very hard. But I think what we should do is work on post-fair sales and with our target groups. We have our Instagram account and our website, et cetera. So we’ll focus on post-fair sales to support our galleries, and we will try to do something like this.
Author
Scott Douglas Jacobsen is a Coordinator at DLH and a Canadian journalist, publisher, editor, and interviewer whose work explores diplomacy, law, human rights, science, secularism, culture, and contemporary international affairs.
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