Life Is Naive Art

The nearest town to the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone is Ivankiv, home to about 8,000 people. From February 24 to April 1, Ivankiv was under Russian occupation. The occupiers bombed the museum of Maria Prymachenko, a world-renowned local artist. Despite air raid alarms, attacks by Russian drones and missiles, power outages, and the ongoing threat from neighboring Belarus, the town continues to live. Our story is about the residents of Ivankiv — more precisely, the children who study at the Maria Prymachenko School of Arts, where they practice music and visual arts. While creating paintings in the style of the famous artist, the children share their experiences of surviving the occupation and how the war affects their lives.