On November 11, in Zurich, Switzerland, an exhibition of the deaf Ukrainian artist Anatoliy Kuralov took place. Anatolii is also a volunteer of the "Hear with the heart" charity foundation. We would like to tell a bit about how it all began and how his paintings started to travel not only to Switzerland but also to other countries.
The first painting Anatoliy created was inspired by a missile hitting a residential building in the city of Dnipro where a hearing-impaired family was affected; a little boy and his father were found dead under the rubble, and a deaf mother was found alive after a long search. She could not scream and call for help, and, though having received a lot of injuries, she survived. This news has stunned the whole deaf community who felt emotional and aggressive about this tragedy, as war affects everyone, including deaf society. Anatoliy decided to present his feelings on the canvas, mixing colors, and as a result, the painting about the destruction of a house in the Dnipro was made in pink and black shades. Black represents grief and sadness, while pink is faith, strength and confidence.
After this painting, Anatoly's creativity flourished, he painted 16 paintings in pink and black colors, on his first exhibition he presented several paintings in Cologne, April 20-23, at the Discovery Art Fair gallery, being the only deaf artist among the hearing artists. The next exhibition took place on June 26 at Galeria Gaudi in Madrid, Spain. And of course, Anatoly's personal exhibition was held for the deaf community at the Rainbow Theater in Kyiv, from September 23 to November 8. Finally, his paintings were presented in Zurich, Switzerland, among people with hearing impairment who gathered from all over the country of Switzerland. The Ukrainian deaf artist was no exception and visited this exhibition too.
Thanks to Valery Demianchuk, who negotiated with Marzia Brunner, the organizer who arranged various arts exhibition among people with hearing impairment, this event was organized. People with hearing impairment could meet their friends, exchange ideas, conduct master classes, as well as buy handmade products. Valeriy explained that a deaf artist does not just paint, he transfers all the meanings, pains, suffering to the canvas to show his work - this is important not only for him, but also for the Ukrainian deaf community. He also emphasized that since Anatoliy Kuralov is a volunteer of the "Hear with the heart" charity foundation the money for his paintings will go to charity. And that's exactly what happened.
“Hear with the heart" charity organization received an official letter with a request to help purchase a hearing aid for a soldier who was injured and lost his hearing. We are volunteers who have been deaf since birth, for us to live in complete silence is the norm, but not for those who used to hear and lost this ability. Naturally, we have a project where we prepare and provide hearing aids, and from his painting that was sold for 60,000 UAH, the deaf artist himself bought a hearing aid and gave the soldier his hearing back.
Anatoly said multiple times that the revenue from his painting would go to charity. At the moment he has created 36 paintings. At the exhibition, Valery Demyanchuk, Anatoliy Kuralov and Oleksandr Zemenchev also presented our “Hear with the heart" charity organization and how our volunteers visited the front-line territory, helped people with hearing impairment in a humanitarian way, emphasized the importance of donations and our activities, the purpose and dream of seeing Ukraine in peace and harmony shared by all people with hearing impairment.
Of course, Ukrainian refugees who are safe in Switzerland came to see this exhibition. It is a great joy to meet your own fellow people. The war forced not only hearing people but also people with hearing impairment to run away. A usual life in Ukraine has become a thing of the past, and meeting other Ukrainians abroad is a comfort for the soul.
We want to express our gratitude to Anatoly Kuralov for these paintings, through abstraction we see and feel all the pain and struggles we are experiencing. As a volunteer, he puts a lot of kindness and generosity into our work; to Valery Demyanchuk for convincing the organizer to open the door for us and show all these traces of the war in Ukraine through black and pink palette; dnd Marzia Brunner (Marzia Bruner) for caring and showing a part of Ukrainian deaf society to the society of deaf Swiss. And also, we thank the “Hear with the heart" charity organization and the head Oleksandr Zemenchev, who gave funds for a trip to Switzerland to present the paintings of a deaf abstractionist artist.
Deaf people support the other deaf people, because iIf not us, then who?
