Tours is hosting an auction this Friday for the benefit of the children of Ukraine. 70 artists, from Tours, France but also foreigners, each donated one or more works in favor of the cause. An initiative of the association of mayors of Indre-et-Loire and the departmental council. A total of 75 works, paintings or sculptures, are offered for sale.
75 works put on sale for the benefit of Ukrainian children
Including the painting by Grégory Cortecero, on which we see a monk dressed in the colors of Ukraine praying, or crying according to some. This Touraine has it painted a few days after the invasion of the country. “It struck me a lot this story and I wanted to paint. I wanted to bring out what I had, and what I had in me was this prayer too, this cry, these tears that ‘we all look at these images”.
Olga Quesney-Pryymak donated a picture on which she painted a baby chimpanzee. This Ukrainian also sees a link with the war raging in her country. “It’s an animal that we try to exterminate to take advantage of its land, to take advantage of oil, etc. So I find that this image has a link with Ukraine. Today, we have the feeling that they just want to exterminate us because we are Ukrainian and because on our land we have the misfortune to have gas”.
Kids, they don’t have to go through this
She who has been living in Touraine for three years regularly checks in with relatives who have stayed behind. For her, it is not a detail if this auction is intended for Ukrainian children. “Children, they don’t have to go through that. I believe that children today, who don’t dream of computers or toys or anything, who dream of staying alive and who dream of having their dad who will come back alive, it’s not normal”.
To remember the war
Because if Ukraine has somewhat deserted the front page of French news in recent weeks, due to the electoral context, the war is still raging there. Olga Quesney-Pryymak does not want to be forgotten. “I would not like people to believe that everything is fine. Because the war in Ukraine today is not just in Donbass. In Ukraine we are bombing every day, and all of Ukraine”.
The organizers hope to recover 30, 40, or even 50,000 euros. They assure that there is something for everyone, even for smaller budgets. The first prices are 50 euros. The 75 works, paintings or sculptures, are exhibited from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Hôtel consulaire du Conseil départemental, rue Jules Favre in Tours. They will then be auctioned from 6 p.m. The profits will go to UNICEF and the association Touraine Ukraine to help Ukrainian children.