Blackpool based Ukrainian artist sells paintings to raise funds for Ukraine

A world-renowned Ukrainian artist will exhibit her work in Blackpool to raise money for victims of the Ukraine war.

Anna Ravliuc- Bloomfield’s war-inspired collection of fine-art has been shown in New York and Vienna, and will appear at Tea Amantes in April.

Anna, who moved to Blackpool in 2019, said she felt the upcoming war with her every fibre, but couldn’t explain it in words.

That’s why she created the paintings - between 2008 and 2014.

She said: “My friends were living in Georgia when Russia invaded [in 2008]. They told me the horrors they were going through. I then remembered the Russian war in Transnistria, the chaos in Moldova.”

Anna’s father had been a prisoner of GULAG (Soviet labour camps that held political prisoners between the 1920s to 1950s) and memories of his stories came flooding back.

She added: “History repeats itself. Many people saw the events leading to this crisis, but the brain refused to accept it. It was like a bad dream, a parallel reality. Now it's a real nightmare.”

Anna’s artistic career began 40 years ago, when she studied at a fine arts school, in Chernovtsy, Ukraine.

She nicknamed her Bucharest studio ‘Art Crematorium’ - because she felt like she was “burning into ashes, in order to turn her visions into art”.

Anna now works from her home-studio on Saville Road in South Shore.

“It was like my ancestors from 5,000 years ago were ringing the warning bells, which were resonating in my mind, heart, and imagination.

I was just the brush in someone’s invisible hand. I painted until I was exhausted, sometimes I would faint next to the easel, weakened and drained.”

But now her paintings have taken on an even deeper meaning.

She feels sad and scared for her home country, and wishes she could do more to help. “I can’t take a weapon in my hand to defend my country from occupants and I'm so sorry I can't send consistent financial support.”

So she’s selling her paintings so that she can send money to help back home in the Ukraine.

Anna moved to Blackpool three years ago and has previously displayed work at the Grundy Art Gallery in 2019 and Hive Coffee Shop in 2020.

She keeps in touch with friends in Kyiv.

One of her friends has three children - they managed to leave Kyiv and are being taken in by a family in Romania.

She also has elderly friends in Kyiv - she said they are terrified, but calm.

“For three nights they have prepared emergency bags, which they keep with them. They are not sleeping because of the loud bangs.

“They are civilians with a higher education - they have read history and understand the situation. They hope that the world will understand it’s in danger if the war is not stopped in Ukraine.”

Anna Ravliuc-Bloomfield’s exhibition opens at Tea Amantes, 53 Albert Road, on Thursday 7th April 2022 at 6pm.

A selection of Anna’s other fine-art paintings are also being sold through her social media at a reduced price. Funds will be sent directly to volunteers and fighters helping to stop the Russian invasion.

The artist has been humbled by the support from British people, and touched by the humanity she has seen in her home country.