Creativity blooms through cultural exchange with Ukraine

In September 2024, the second delegation of artists and social workers visited Philadelphia. Over three days, the group worked with the MAI and Porch Light teams to visit community hub spaces, explore artist studios, and continue to share in conversations on trauma-informed approaches to community art-making. The group spent time with artists Ben Volta, Symone Salib, and Eric Okdeh to learn about the methods they use to incorporate public voices in community-designed murals. They also worked with muralist Malachi Floyd to learn the Mural Cloth method of mural production. More information is available at muralartsinstitute.com/library.

Porch Light staff, Nadia Malik and Mat Tomezsko, hosted the artists at the Color Me Back studio for a collaborative painting activity that adopted the Petrykivka style from the designs produced during the previous online sessions. Mat Tomezsko and the Color Me Back program coordinated a composition that brings together the materials and original designs produced entirely by the Ukrainian artists throughout multiple sessions over the last year. The piece is 72”H x 144”W, painted on mural cloth and mounted on Dibond panels.

The visit for this second delegation concluded with a reflection session by MAI for the artists to envision what they would take back with them to Ukraine. The conversation produced insightful responses about the power for art to inspire, uplift community voices and activate social change.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of this story, coming in January, which shares more about the artists who visited from Ukraine, and their insights on the importance of socially-engaged mural-making and creative cultural exchange programs like this one. 

In August 2024, the Mural Arts Institute (MAI) and the Porch Light Department teamed up to work with the Health Federation of Philadelphia and the European Institute of Public Health Policy in Ukraine. Together, MAI and Porch Light led four online sessions over the course of a month with a second cohort of artists and administrators in Ukraine, some of whom were also involved in the original engagement and painting activity. The team presented information about Mural Arts’ mission, approach to community engagement, and practice of public art-making. This included the Color Me Back Program sharing about the Garden Wall Series. The sessions focused on practical, material, and logistical concerns, as well as the specifics of working and building meaning within traumatized communities.