Kharkiv children's fairytale artwork on display in Pärnu, Estonia
The Pärnu Museum of New Art has opened an exhibition of 14 large-scale works created by children and teens from a Kharkiv art studio, on view through October 4.
An exhibition of large-scale artwork created by children from Ukraine's Kharkiv opened this week at the Pärnu Museum of New Art (MONA) in Estonia, featuring 14 monumental pieces made by roughly 40 young artists aged 5 to 17.
The works were created at the Aza Nizi Maza art studio in Kharkiv, which continues to operate out of a World War II-era bomb shelter. Children still gather there to learn and create despite ongoing drone, missile and guided-bomb attacks on the city.
Built around a 'missing museum'
The exhibition, titled "Lost Fairy Tales," was built around the concept of a "missing museum" — an imagined world composed of forgotten legends, untold stories and newly invented mythologies drawing on the Baroque-era collections found in European museums.
The young artists began by sketching elements taken from ancient frescoes, botanical atlases, medieval maps and manuscripts, later developing characters and weaving narratives around them. The finished works combine details such as rosehips, seashells, bones, bats, lions and musical instruments with figures including beggars, saints, witches, princesses, children and world-weary characters.
Each piece measures 2.5 by 1.5 meters, a scale meant to let viewers step into the visual worlds and feel part of the unfolding stories.
The exhibition was curated by Mykola Kolomiiets and Iryna Hrytska and will remain on view at the Pärnu museum through October 4.
