A Ukrainian mum has spoken of her decision to leave her homeland as Russia invaded.
Oleksandra Novatska will tell her story, and those of more than six million Ukrainian women and children, through an art exhibition in Dumfries next week.
Faraway From Ukraine to UK: A Tribute starts next Friday at the Smithy on the High Street.
The 49-year-old and her 13-year-old daughter Anna Romanyuk, who have lived in Dumfries for seven months, fled Lviv by car.
She said: “I was really scared. I drove for three days and 4,000km from Ukraine.
“I packed my whole life in the car boot and we went. It was a difficult solution in which I should protect my child, and her dad protects Ukraine.
“My daughter and I travelled a long journey of 4,000 kilometres across Europe, leaving behind everything and everyone we loved.”
The artist and art gallery curator has started finding her creativity once again after the invasion. She has been given a space at the Riverside Tap on Friars Vennel by Beer Without Borders founder Andrew Pearson.
Part of the exhibition will be on paper scrolls to replicate traditional Ukrainian embroidered towels.
She said: “When the war started, in my emotions I tried to paint flowers, but I really couldn’t.
“I needed something bright and some inspiration, but there wasn’t any.
“I had no emotions to paint in colour, but step by step I started adding some colour some red and blue.
“When Andrew offered me the space to paint in morning and evenings, it helped me to feel better.
“So I started to think about an exhibition. There are about 10,000 people from Ukraine in Scotland.
“Our story is very similar in that we decided to leave to save our children, but everyone’s story on how we came to Scotland is different.
“Some have come from shelters. But they’ve all had the same worries and fears. So I decided to continue this exhibition to tell our story.”
Oleksandra added: “People have been very kind and a lot of people have helped me. I’m very grateful and it sometimes brings me to tears.”
The exhibition will run from November 4 to 11 at The Smithy, 113-115 High Street.
It comes as Dumfries will sample a taste of Ukraine at the end of November.
A charity Ukrainian gourmet gala dinner will take place at the Easterbrook Hall on November 25 at 7pm.
Proceeds from the gala dinner, which is described as ‘Borsch Threatre’ by famous chef Ievgen Klopotenko, will be sent to Ukraine for humanitarian relief.
Andrew, along with Oleksandra, helped to organise the event.
Andrew said: “In the summer I was planning a small event to commemorate Ukrainian independence in August.
“One of the aspects of that was arranging Ukranian food. Oleksandra isn’t a chef, but she’s connected to chefs.
“She spoke with friends of Ievgen, who is a famous chef in Ukraine, and that resulted in him and his team agreeing to come over and cook for us. We wanted to do something big.
“There will be a ceilidh and a charity auction.
“The Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) has recognised the event to give it formal approval.
“The Crichton Trust has given us the hall free of charge and has been incredibly supportive.
“It will be a really good evening.”
Tickets for the charity gala go on sale this week and are available from the Midteeple Box Office, Riverside Tap, Galloway Tap in Castle Douglas and on their website.
