Alexandre Farto, a Portuguese artist known as Vhils, came to Kyiv to create a mural of slain Maidan activist Serhiy Nihoyan on the wall of a downtown building near Mykhailivska Square. The portait of Nihoyan, one of the first victims of the EuroMaidan Revolution, overlooks a public garden, called the Heavenly Hundred Garden, which was planted by activists and is dedicated to those who were killed on the Maidan in January and February 2014.
Vhils’ works decorate walls all around the world.
Photos of his works have been exhibited in Rio de Janeiro, Shanghai, Paris,
London, Sidney, Lisbon, and other world cultural centers. He works with metal,
paper, wood, but mostly with old walls to create his portraits.
“This is the only way I could contribute, by paying my
respects to those who lost their lives in the name of freedom to choose their
own future. The eyes of Serhiy are the eyes of all the Heavenly Hundred,” Vhils wrote on his Facebook
page on July 8.
Vhils creates murals,
carving faces into walls. In order to prepare a wall, activists covered the
wall surface with layers of concrete and paint. After it dried out, Vhils’ team
projected Nihoyan’s face on a wall and carved it with rotary hammer.
“All his work comes
through destroying in order to create,” activist and co-founder of Heavenly Hundred Garden Zhenya Kuleba says of Vhils.
She compared Vhils’ art
with the EuroMaidan Revolution and the rebirth of Ukrainian society. “We invited him because his ideology is similar to
ours. Moreover, it turned out that he is very much rooting for Ukraine,” Kuleba
says.
While Vhils’ team
worked without payment, activists raised money for materials from private
investors and volunteers. Novopechersk School, a Kyiv-based private educational
institution, organized a charity fair, selling children’s handmade items,
pastries, and clothing. Nearly half of the Hr 82,000 in donations were
allocated to pay for the mural’s materials.
The public garden where
Vhils carved Nihoyan’s portrait was also
opened through activists’ efforts. To create this space in courtyard on 24-26 Mykhailivska
St., private companies and volunteers helped to clean up a dump, full of rats,
debris, and trash. They called it the Heavenly Hundred Garden, because of a
piece of metal fence from the dump, which served as a part of a barricade
during the confrontations on the Maidan. That piece of fence has become an art
object and a memorable symbol.
The courtyard on Mykhailivska Street before cleaning.
Activists planted an orchard, garden, lawns and flowerbeds,
and built walkways and a playground. “None of the trees or flowers was
purchased [by the activists]. All were brought by Kyiv residents,” Kuleba says.
Now activists are harvesting crops of tomatoes, cabbage and other vegetables.
“Historically, Kyiv was
a city of fruit gardens,” Kuleba says. In order to widen the project with
public gardens, she co-founded
a non-government organization, called Misto-Sad (City-Garden). “Misto-Sad,
public orchards where happy people live, is what we aim to create in all cities
of Ukraine.”
The public garden hosts visitors on its grassy lawns,
and also welcomes any kind of help. American Paul Wilson is among those passers-by
who were ready to help by weeding a garden. He came here to see his friend and
they stayed in the building next to the Heavenly Hundred Garden.
Wilson recalled keeping track of EuroMaidan’s events, but he had never visited
Kyiv before now.
He was present at the official opening of Nigoyan’s
mural on July 9. “In the U.S. you would
never get to stand so close to Obama,” he commented on the presence of
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko at the garden’s grand opening.
However, problems have appeared in terms of the legal
ownership of the territory. According to Kuleba, the territory was illegally
transferred to a politician from the team of former Kyiv Mayor Leonid
Chernovetsky. Instead of a public garden, the businessman was going to build a
hotel, renting a part of Mykhailivska Square.
“Now the most important issue is to defend this
territory legally, and return the land to city ownership,” Kuleba says. However,
the activists have already lost two court battles, because they were never even
told about the hearings.
Kyiv
Post staff writer Yuliana Romanyshyn can be reached at [email protected]
