Sonia Atlantova | Olexander Klimenko 

Icons on Ammunition Boxes

From 2015, Ukrainian artists Sonia Atlantova and Olexander Klimenko have been using wooden fragments from ammunition boxes abandoned by Russian soldiers on the battle fields in Ukraine to paint icons and donating all sale proceeds to mobile hospitals that provide urgent medical care to wounded Ukrainian soldiers and civilians. Since Russia began its invasion of Ukraine in late February, 2022, their work remains more relevant than ever.

Icons on Ammunition Boxes transform the military rubbish smelling of death into life-affirming art. As silent witnesses of war they become symbols of life overcoming horrors of war. They epitomize how violence and pain can be transformed into peace and consolation; they bring hope for peace and justice to the country torn by war and become the important source of financial support to several mobile field hospitals to make such transformation possible.

Icons on Ammunition Boxes project will be presented at AQUA  ART MIAMI 2022, November 30 - December 4, 2022 under the sponsorship of Black & White Project Space, Bourlet Art Logistics and Aqua Art Miami. 

Icons on Ammunition Boxes have been exhibited at the European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium, Parliaments of Ukraine and Lithuania, St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv, Kyiv Pechersk Lavra, and the Lithuanian Embassy in Ukraine as well as in many cities in Ukraine, Poland, Germany, France, Holland, Italy, Austria, Czech Republic, Canada and US. 

The Project raised over $450,000 since inception. In October, 2022 the Project began its support of the Hospital of Luke the Apostle.