October 23, 2024
TOKYO – As Russia’s aggression against Ukraine continues, an exhibition to support war-hit Ukrainian children will be held at Tsurugaoka Hachimangu shrine in Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, from Thursday.
The exhibition, “100 Motanka for Peace,” is a display of Ukrainian traditional motanka dolls made by about 100 women mainly in Ukraine and sent to Japan.
In Ukraine, motanka dolls are regarded as a kind of talisman, warding off bad luck and providing protection. They are typically made by women to send to their loved ones.
The organizer, Anna Inoue, a Polish native who now resides in the prefecture, has held several motanka exhibitions since last year in various places across Japan, including Tokyo, Kyoto and Hiroshima. This month’s exhibition will be the tenth and last, Inoue said. She expressed gratitude to the people who helped her exhibitions, including Nagisa Koyama, a Kamakura-based Japanese calligrapher, who offered the space for some of the exhibitions.
Inoue passed along a message from Ganna Nekrylova, one of the makers from Zaporizhzhia, who said, “I am very grateful to the Japanese people for their warmth and support” for Ukraine through the exhibition, and that she hopes that “when peace comes to Ukraine … we will be able to communicate more and get to know each other’s culture more.”
The funds raised through donations at the exhibitions have been used to support the children in the shelters in Ukraine, such as by providing educational supplies and holding workshops to help them cope with trauma from the war.
One of the highlights of the exhibition is a motanka doll named “Sakura Dream.” It was made by Margarita Petrenko, a 17-year-old student in Kharkiv, who said her dolls “symbolize our strength, resilience, thirst for victory and cry for help.”
After the exhibition ends, the motanka dolls will be donated to the Ukrainian Embassy in Japan to become a permanent collection.
“This exhibition is a testament to the strength and creative spirit that continues to thrive despite adversity, and a powerful reflection on art as a form of resistance and healing,” Inoue said.