At a recent meeting with her fellow artists, Touchstone Gallery member Sonya Michel noted that she was feeling ambivalent about her upcoming solo show. “It seems awkward to be celebrating my work in the midst of so much tragedy in Ukraine,” she said. “Why not donate some of the proceeds to one of the Ukraine humanitarian relief efforts?” proposed Touchstone colleague Jenny Singleton. “Great idea,” Michel replied. “I will. Thank you!”
But deciding which fund to benefit was not so easy. “The need is obviously dire, but there are many organizations now providing crucial relief,” Michel reflected. To help with her choice, she turned to Silver Spring neighbor Tamara Woroby, a Towson University economist of Ukrainian descent who has been following the crisis closely. Woroby suggested that Michel look into Ukrainian Education Platform (UEP), a charity founded to aid internally displaced refugees in 2014, the year the Russians first invaded the country.
Following up, Michel was struck by UEP’s unique mission, which is based on the premise that “building communities in the safe areas of Ukraine” is preferable to “creating a generation of refugees.” Ukrainians who remain in their home country will be better positioned to rebuild it once the war is over, the organization believes. Working with local authorities, primarily in the western part of the country, its members create shelters for internal refugees, mostly women and children, and then provides them with food, clothing, education and psychological support. They also finds ways to bring food and medicines to Ukrainians trapped in conflict zones.
One of UEP’s current spokespersons is John Shmorhun, a native of Clarksville, Maryland who, as a Dupont executive, managed the company’s agricultural business in Ukraine and Russia for more than 18 years and thus knows the region very well. With help from foreign volunteers like Shmorhun along with its Ukrainian staff, UEP is able to do very effective work. “However,” Michel, speculated, “since it is still relatively small and less well-known than larger organizations like the Red Cross or Doctors Without Borders, it probably receives less funding. Thus whatever I can donate from the proceeds of my exhibit will, hopefully, make a difference.”
Michel’s awareness of the plight of Ukraine began around eight years ago, when she learned about Russia’s first incursion into the country’s Donbas region. At the same time, she was making the transition from teaching history and Women’s and Gender Studies at the University of Maryland, College Park to becoming an artist. One of her first paintings, “Donetsk, Spring 2015,” was inspired by a New York Times photograph of the impact of Russian attacks on that city, taken from inside a bombed-out building. The painting is now in the collection of her former academic home, the Department of History at the University of Maryland, College Park, which has agreed to loan it for the Touchstone exhibit. It will be on view, along with Michel’s more recent work, from April 1 to May 1.