By CatholicPhilly Staff \u2022 Posted March 24, 2026 <\/p>\n
Ukrainian artists will publicly unveil a large scale collaborative painting<\/a> Sunday, March 29 at 11:30 a.m. at the Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Philadelphia, concluding a monthlong art project responding to the war in Ukraine.<\/p>\n Since early March, artists Tetiana Mialkovska, Tetiana Rusetska, and Iryna Semenenko are painting \u201cThe Song of Songs of the Ukrainian People,\u201d a 30-meter monumental panel conceived as a continuous visual narrative.<\/p>\n Drawing on traditions of murals, folk painting and devotional art, the work blends sacred Christian imagery tied to the liturgical calendar with contemporary symbols portraying collective memory, suffering and resilience.<\/p>\n The painting includes participation from Ukrainian soldiers with amputations currently receiving prosthetic treatment in the United States; internally displaced Ukrainians; and young Americans of Ukrainian descent.<\/p>\n The project aims to draw international attention to the human and cultural cost of the war in Ukraine while using art as a form of healing and social rehabilitation.<\/p>\n It was developed by Metropolitan Archbishop Borys Gudziak and artist Tetiana Mialkovska, a Gold Star mother whose son joined the Ukrainian army in the first days of the Russian invasion in 2022 and was killed in action.<\/p>\n The initiative is part of the artistic and socio-cultural initiative \u201cCreativity \u2014 the Antonym of War\u201d and the humanitarian efforts of the \u201cHealing of Wounds of the War in Ukraine Fund,<\/a>\u201d launched by the Ukrainian Catholic bishops in the United States. The fund distributed $3.5 million in 2024\u20132025 to support war victims.<\/p>\n Mialkovska is also the founder of the Piaternia NGO, established in 2014 to provide art-based rehabilitation for Ukrainian soldiers and, since 2022, for children affected by the war.<\/p>\n The Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception is located at 810 N. Franklin Street in Philadelphia.<\/p>\n