Sunflower, Marigold, Red Winter Berries (viburnum branch), by Tania Yurchenko

Among the ways many in North America are seeking to support Ukraine is by supporting its cultural work: Ukrainian artists, writers, and keepers of cultural and historical artifacts. One such artist is Tatiana (Tania) Yurchenko. A self-taught artist with a background in botany, Yurchenko has long created botanical drawings to relax, depicting local plants and flowers, some of which are symbolic for Ukraine. Among those images shared here are her botanical drawings of the marigold and the sunflower.

Recently Yurchenko was forced to leave Ukraine with her 14-year-old daughter, even as her husband and son stay in Ukraine in the military draft to defeat what she refers to in her artist’s statement as “that terrible wild monster.” She is finding some support for herself and for family in Ukraine by selling her work through her Etsy shop, TaniaYuArtBoutique. “I know that Ukrainians inspire the whole world,” she writes. One image, one sunflower, one seed planted at a time, Yurchenko grows a garden of that inspiration.