At the eve of the session of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, and exhibition entitled “When the sky is silent” by young Ukrainian artist Artur Kotyk from Lviv has been inaugurated.

The exhibition, organised by the Ukrainian Permanent Representation to the Council of Europe, brings together 30 works created during the time of Russia’s war against Ukraine.  The paintings are not merely imprints on canvas, but memories, wounds, and symbols that do not fade.

The exhibition was opened by Ambassador Mykola Tochytskyi, Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the Council of Europe and Deputy Secretary General Bjørn Berge.

Congratulating the young artist on his tremendous talent and amazing art, the Deputy Secretary General said:

“On February 24, 2022, you were just 17 years old. A high school student. But like all of Ukraine and all of Europe and all the world, you awoke that day to your country at war. Today, you are only 21 years old, but already a veteran of several exhibitions of paintings and drawings into which you have poured your heart, soul, grief, anger, and talent.”

Serving as a visual testimony of both personal and collective experience, reflecting resilience, loss, and hope the paintings combine expressive figurative language with symbolic abstraction, addressing themes of identity, resilience, and human experience in times of war – a period of profound pain and inner transformation.

 Speech by the Deputy Secretary General