“For Orphan”: an art campaign in support of Bohdan Ziza has been launched in Zhytomyr
1 / 10 / 2025
Учора в Житомирі стартувала всеукраїнська кампанія «Для Сироти. For Orphan», присвячена кримському художнику і політв’язню Богдану Зізі. Акція відбулася в обласному краєзнавчому музеї.
Кримськотатарська художниця наживо відтворила роботу Зізи, перетворивши її на символічний жест підтримки митця та всіх українських політв’язнів, яких утримує росія. Учасники заходу — житомиряни, ліцеїсти, представники громадських організацій і місцевої влади — мали змогу створити власні зображення за мотивами його робіт за допомогою трафаретів.
“The residents of Zhytomyr responded very warmly to the project. Over 40 people came to the event, some of whom were ready to join further initiatives — from writing letters to holding information sessions in schools. It is important that such activities resonate with children and young people”, — CrimeaSOS regional coordinator Svitlana Korsik said.
The author of the project emphasized that she has been working on the campaign since 2023 in collaboration with CrimeaSOS: “I sincerely hoped that by this time he would be free, but, unfortunately, Bohdan is still behind bars, and his feat remains little known”.
According to her, the idea for the campaign was born in 2023, after the artist became acquainted with the works of Bohdan Ziza and the stories of Crimean political prisoners. The first large-scale project was an exhibition at the Berlin Wall Museum. It is there that one can still see the homage – a depiction of Ziza’s painting as a symbol of the Crimean resistance.
Bohdan Ziza is a Crimean artist sentenced to 15 years in prison in the russian federation for protesting against a full-scale war: he doused yellow and blue paint on the occupation administration building in Yevpatoria.
The “For Orphan” campaign is implemented by NGO “CrimeaSOS” in cooperation with a Crimean Tatar artist with the support of IPHR, and with the assistance of the Department of Culture and Tourism of the Zhytomyr Regional Military Administration and the Zhytomyr Regional Museum of Local Lore.