This is my submission to Prospect 100 for Ukraine's design competition. The project brief was to create a digital artwork inspired by provided news sources that could be made into an NFT to raise money for Ukrainian refugees.
I wanted to make an anti-war piece for the children of Ukraine (and Russia). I feel the most despair that we have failed to protect another generation of children from war.
I wanted to represent the hope of every Ukrainian mother and father right now: getting their children to safety, whether they can go with them or not. It's an incredible gamble to flee a war, let alone send your children away without knowing whether you will see them again.
We don't know where the balloons are going, but we hope the wind carries the precious cargo to safety. By contrast, the balloons could also represent the children we have needlessly lost and how we must honor them by saving future generations from war.
I included the words "Het Bonhe" ("No war") to honor the protests of brave Russian children who are also irreparably harmed by this war, and the unified rallying cry of the international community.
This piece was also loosely inspired by the anti-war song "99 Luftballoons."
Software: Illustrator
