Great Barrington — An exhibit of art by local artist Deborah Hanson Greene, “Ukrainians and their Pets,” will be on display at the Berkshire Food Co-Op until Wednesday, November 30. The exhibit consists of watercolor paintings depicting Ukranians who are living in a war-torn country with their pets.
In an interview with The Berkshire Edge, Greene said she was inspired to create the paintings after hearing news stories about Ukrainians having to flee war-devastated areas of the countrywith their pets. “From YouTube, I’ve seen a few examples of people running across bridges and roads carrying a single backpack and their pet, leaving everything else behind,” Greene said. “I also found dozens of news stories about people leaving their pets in shelters, along with stories about organizations trying to save them. It’s upsetting to me because I’m an animal lover, and my pets are like my children. It touched me, and I was losing sleep over it.”
Greene said that she watched videos of Ukrainians to create the paintings. “I would take composites of my images and I started sketching them out as a way to heal and try to come to grips with what I was seeing,” she said. “I was doing it for myself, but I showed my work to a few of my neighbors. They were moved by them. Even the neighbors that had never owned pets seemed to be haunted by the images that I was painting.”
Greene said that she lined up the Berkshire Food Co-Op to show the paintings several months ago. “I honestly thought the war would be over by now,” Greene said. “But it’s getting worse, and it’s still raging. I hope that the people who are shopping here stop by to look at the art and think a little bit about the animals that are either being left behind or in refugee homes. I want residents to stop and think about the contrast between their own lives and the lives of Ukrainians, and how grateful we should all be for what we have right now.”
