Caught In The Crosswinds: When Art Meets The Elements

I’m Alexandra Malyshko, an artist who made a strange, stubborn choice: I stayed. I’m still here, creating art in a frontline zone of Ukraine, constantly analyzing the shifting sands of my own psyche.

When the full-scale war erupted in 2022, I felt my humanity slipping away. The first months were a blur of adrenaline and terror. I barely slept. I ate compulsively. I lived in a constant state of high-alert nerves. The most terrifying part wasn't just the missiles—it was the total lack of safety and the chilling uncertainty of what came next.

I remember being afraid to even undress for a shower because the air raid sirens never stopped. Missiles whistled over my roof in every direction, a nightmare that seemed to have no end. My relatives took my daughter and me to a house in the suburbs, but the tension followed us everywhere. Eventually, we returned to our city apartment. Surrounded by empty neighbor units, we felt one thing: home, despite the danger, was the only place we felt "safe."

As I felt my empathy and warmth drain out of me, I began a desperate search for something to fill the void. I looked for anything that triggered associations with kindness, purity, and empathy. I needed to be reborn, like a phoenix from the ashes.

I found my salvation in nature.

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