On 13 August, the exhibition “Lost Fairy Tales” opened at the Museum of New Art (Uue Kunsti Muuseum) in Pärnu. This large-scale collective art project features works created by children and young people from the Aza Nizi Maza art studio in Kharkiv, including children on the autism spectrum and children with Down syndrome. The studio is led by Ukrainian artist and educator Mykola Kolomiyets.

The exhibition will remain on display at the Museum of New Art in Pärnu until 4 October.

Today, Aza Nizi Maza operates in an underground space in Kharkiv that serves as a shelter. Here, children aged 5 to 17 come together to learn, spend time with one another and, despite the war and constant Russian attacks on the city, continue to create art. Art gives them a way to express their emotions, cope with fear and anxiety, support one another, and preserve their ability to dream.

The opening of the exhibition featured welcoming remarks by Ambassador of Ukraine to Estonia Volodymyr Boiechko, Head of the Museum of New Art Mark Soosaar, and representative of the City of Pärnu Varje Tipp.

Special guests at the opening were two young artists, Anna Kovalenko and Monika Gritskaya, who travelled from Kharkiv to personally present the project. Addressing the young artists, Volodymyr Boiechko said: “Through your works, people in Estonia can see Ukraine through your eyes — a Ukraine that, even in the most difficult times, continues to create, to see beauty, to dream, and to look to the future with hope.”

Anna Kovalenko, a graduate of the studio and co-creator of many of the works featured in the exhibition, performed an original song dedicated to the memory of Nika Kozhushko, a talented young artist and poet from Kharkiv who was killed in a Russian strike on the city on 30 August 2024. Nika was only 18 years old.

The Ambassador expressed his sincere gratitude to the City of Pärnu and Mayor Kristel Voltenberg for their consistent support for Ukraine and the Ukrainian community, as well as to Mark Soosaar and the Museum of New Art, Tetiana Podolska and MTÜ Ukraina Keskus, curator Iryna Gritskaya, Mykola Kolomiyets, and everyone who contributed to making this important project possible in Estonia.