Collaboration in “Side by side: united communities” is not boring template projects on paper.
These are educational and creative meetings, joint cultural events and sincere communication.
This time, schoolchildren from Bakhmut and Gostomel joined the remote art meeting “We are different, but united”. The participants were both children who are currently in different regions of Ukraine, and Bakhmut residents visiting the educational location in the Dnipro.
Despite the online format, the meeting turned into a space for live communication and mutual support. The symbolic part was an exercise with a thread, which personified the connection between communities. The participants “passed” it to each other, creating a sense of community.
The central element of the meeting was the creation of a “Travelogue” motanka doll. The children put their own thoughts, dreams and hopes into their works.
Each element here has a symbolic meaning – from the image of home to support and revival.
Separately, the participants created “dream bags” in which they wrote down the places they want to return to or dream of visiting.
And in Kremenchuk, the Bakhmut Easter Tree blossomed. Its elements were created during a master class on Easter egg making in the city art gallery.
Under the guidance of the craftswoman, the participants mastered the technique of wax painting, got acquainted with the meaning of symbols and worked on their own works. Each Easter egg became a separate story – about faith, memory and hope.
The created Easter eggs already decorate the Easter tree in the Prydniprovskyi Park of Kremenchuk. The installation has become a symbol of the connection between communities and a reminder of Bakhmut, who continues to live in the hearts of those who left but did not lose hope.
Both initiatives are different in format, but share the same content. They are about a connection that never disappears. About children who learn to stick together. And about communities that are close — even at a distance.