A former aid worker says she wants to “remember the humanity” of the war in Ukraine as she marks the second anniversary of the conflict with an art exhibition.
Raegan Hodge, a former communications officer for a humanitarian aid organisation, said she wanted to recreate the feelings of refugees fleeing their homes in her exhibition, Warsaw to Kyiv: Reflections of a Humanitarian Aid Worker in Poland and Ukraine.
The exhibition, launching in Brighton next month, aims to capture the “bleak but beautiful” landscape in Ukraine and Poland seen by refugees on trains leaving the war-torn country.
Raegan, 44, from Burgess Hill, said: “Instead of showing people suffering I’m trying to recreate what they were seeing.
“I want people to remember the humanity of the conflict and that it is still going on.”
Raegan said her work in Poland and Ukraine had included documenting refugees fleeing Ukraine into Poland. This included a gruelling 22-hour train journey out of the country looking out on the “bleak but beautiful” landscape.
As part of the exhibition, she is trying to recreate the feeling inside the carriage using a video installation.
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Other parts of the exhibition recreate a Polish classroom with pictures drawn by displaced Ukrainian schoolchildren.
The conflict in Ukraine began nearly two years ago when Russian forces invaded the country.
Many Ukrainians have been displaced with some settling in countries such as the UK under the Homes for Ukraine scheme.
More than 500 Ukrainian refugees had settled in Brighton and Hove a year ago according to government figures.
Raegan's exhibition begins at Gallery Lock In in Little Western Road on February 10 and will end on February 24, marking the second anniversary of the beginning of the war.
The event will also host guest Ukrainian artists as well as musicians and DJs throughout the two week long show.
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