French artist JR has joined the growing list of artists who are showing their support for Ukraine in the ongoing crisis. JR used a drone to shoot the portrait of a five-year-old Ukrainian refugee named Valeriia taken by local photographer Artem Iurchenko. “This little girl is the future and, in this war, she reminds us what Ukrainians are fighting for,” JR wrote on Instagram as he unveiled the picture, which is used as the cover of TIME magazine.
The award-winning street artist, who is known for pasting up large portraits around the world, recently traveled to the Ukrainian city of Lviv and enlisted locals in a monumental public art action to make a bold statement. Hundreds of Ukrainian volunteers turned out in Lviv’s main square to help reveal the piece.
JR printed a larger-than-life 148-foot-tall version of the young girl’s picture on a huge tarp in his Paris studio in an attempt to communicate Ukraine’s resilient spirit to the world. He then rolled up the image so it could be loaded into a truck.
JR then tried to arrange a trip to Ukraine, documenting the entire journey and all the activities on his Instagram stories. After getting to the Ukraine-Poland border, JR and his crew walked into Ukraine and connected with hundreds of Ukrainian volunteers they had met on social media. Social media played a huge role in the call for volunteers to help with the project.
After entering Ukraine, he shot the photo with an overhead drone outside the Lviv national opera, which is located near the Polish border. This trademark giant portrait features a smiling Ukrainian young girl, dressed for winter, captured in white and black.
Photographer Artem Iurchenko was close to the Ukraine-Poland border and took photographs of many Ukrainian refugees. He was communicating with JR and sent him Valeriia’s photo. When JR received it, he knew he had something special and could make a huge impact with it. “Your smile is shining to the entire world,” JR told Valeriia over video chat, an interaction he shared via Instagram.
She had just crossed into Poland from Ukraine, and the beaming smile on her face signified relief and solace – a genuine representation of what is hoped for. JR posted the cover image on Twitter and added, “This little girl is the future and, in this war, she reminds us what Ukrainians are fighting for.”
Five-year-old Valeria is just one of the millions of refugees that have fled from Ukraine to neighboring counties since the crisis began. Just like many other families, Valeria and her mother are separated from Valeriia’s brother and father, who are not allowed to leave Ukraine.
Their story is just one of many other similar stories in a dire crisis that has killed more than 100 children according to Ukrainian officials.
Valeria and her mother, Taisiia, are from the central city of Kryvyi Rih, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s hometown but are now safe in Poland. “It was very hard to leave Ukraine, very hard…. We had to stand for 18 hours on the train to Lviv,” Taisiia told TIME. “I cannot find the words to express how grateful I am to everyone who has helped; I’m shocked in a good way.”
