OSAKA -- On a midsummer night, a beautiful-looking light resembling fireworks lit up the sky. However, this light was not from fireworks but from a bomb. Nina Butieva, a 44-year-old Ukrainian painter, fled her homeland three years ago when Russia began its invasion of her country, fearing that artists might be killed. Now living in Japan, she has returned to the canvas.

Nina hails from southeastern Ukraine. She refrained from disclosing the name of her city to protect her family, who still reside there, but said she previously worked as an English teacher at a vocational school in Kyiv. Before turning 30, she decided to pursue her childhood dream of becoming a painter. She taught herself painting techniques while working in a factory, and established an art studio in her hometown about 10 years ago. She then began teaching local residents how to paint and exhibited her works in European exhibitions, getting on track as an artist.

Artists as targets

However, when Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, everything changed. At the time, Nina was optimistic. "Even though they said it was an invasion, I didn't know what Russia would do," she reflected. She never imagined it would turn into a war.

Several days later, however, armed Russian soldiers arrived in her city. Politicians were rounded up, and priests were taken captive. Around that time Nina received a message from a female acquaintance, an artist living in eastern Ukraine. "Run," the acquaintance urged her.

The Russian military was destroying numerous artworks and historical buildings in the country. She had heard that artists had been targeted in past wars. "Artists will become targets," she thought, and decided to flee abroad with her acquaintance.

Leaving her ill mother behind

Nina was concerned about her elderly parents, who she had to leave behind in her hometown. Her mother, in her 70s, had cancer, but encouraged her to leave. "I'll be fine, so go," her mother told her. With tears in her eyes, Nina boarded a bus with a bag containing paints and a change of clothes. Despite it being summer, the night was cold.

Through the bus window, she saw Ukrainian towns in ruins. Shelling began near the bus, and explosions repeatedly echoed around them. The night sky was illuminated. It seemed the bus could be hit at any moment. Passengers who had escaped hid in the bushes, crying and trembling. Nina came to the realization that it could be the end for her, and sent a message to the woman she had promised to meet, telling her "goodbye."

In the morning, the shelling stopped. Three days after setting out, Nina left Ukraine from a city in the west of the country with her acquaintance. After staying in Slovakia, they arrived in Japan in September 2022, relying on acquaintances.

A shadow of home in Osaka

On the evening their flight arrived at Kansai International Airport, Nina walked along the beach in Izumisano, Osaka Prefecture, where she was staying. The sound and smell of the waves and the view of a Ferris wheel near the sea reminded her of her hometown.

Nina now lives in a housing complex in Osaka while attending a Japanese language school. "Japan is a wonderful country. Everyone is polite and very kind," she says.

She resumed her creative activities, choosing the beach scenery that reminded her of her hometown as her subject.

Recently the door opened for her to take part in an exchange exhibition in Osaka featuring works by 17 Ukrainian and Japanese artists. In addition to Nina's art, works by 11 of her students and friends still in Ukraine are being displayed.

"By creating exchanges through artwork, I want to build a bridge to peace," Nina says. "I don't want to let Ukraine's culture, cultivated over a long history, disappear." She firmly believes that art cannot be taken away by war.

The exchange exhibition is being held through March 17 at Atoriemil (Nishiimagawa 4, Higashisumiyoshi Ward, Osaka). Admission is free.

(Japanese original by Mie Omokawa, Osaka City News Department)