Russian artist Katerina Turner seeking space for exhibition that is ‘testimony to human spirit’

Katarina Turner, a Russian artist and architect working on the Cambridge Science Park, got much more than she bargained for when she opened up her home to five Ukrainians.

When Russia invaded Ukraine, Katarina, 45, used a WhatsApp art group chat room to offer her house near La Spezia in Italy as a refuge.

Five Ukrainians took up the offer, two of whom – Valeriia Radchenko and Hanna Krut – were mosaic artists.

Now, they and Katarina have created an exhibition titled ‘Fragmented Memories, Shattered Reflections’.

Its thesis is that art has the power to promote healing, empathy and understanding. Katarina is now looking for an exhibition space in Cambridge.

The vehicle for the collaboration is two-fold: a hazardous 11-day voyage on a homemade log raft down the vast Eastern Siberian River Lena in 1967 made by Katarina’s father, six friends and a dog, and drawings by Katarina, which are now being turned into large mosaics by Hanna and Valeriia, and the second is based on the childhood memories of Hanna in Makeevka in the Donetsk region, which Katya has translated into drawings.

The artworks are full of symbolism of both happier times and of the catastrophic destruction of ordinary lives on both sides of the conflict.

The exhibition works have an added poignancy because Valeriia was bombed out of her home in Mariupol and Hanna out of her home in the city of Dnipro where she ran an art school specialising in mosaic work, and Katarina is unable to visit her family home in Irkutsk.

Katarina said: “When I offered my home to Ukrainian women fleeing war, I could not have dreamed of the strong collaborative artistic bond that would develop.

“The exhibition we have created of large mosaics as well as paintings and drawings is not only artistically very contemporary, it is also our powerful testament to the human spirit in the darkest of times.

“Detailed scaled drawings and plans have been flying backwards and forwards almost on a weekly basis for the past two years between Cambridge and Italy as we created this landmark exhibition.

“It is now ready for exhibition and we want to hold it in Cambridge. We are currently looking for a suitable venue.”