Image: Victoria Palma | Photo: Victoria Palma
No Respite
Kyiv under constant fire / 253 therapy sessions thanks to UAHP / Funding search: many rejections / VIDLIK partnership / First completed therapy
#war #UAHP #VictoriaPalma
No respite for Ukraine. In the night leading into July 6, Russia blanketed Kyiv with 68 missiles and 351 drones. 22 people died, 90 were injured. Only four days earlier, 17 people had been killed. >>Article
Numbers like these we hear all the time, quickly forgetting that behind them stand human fates. Through the UAHP program I get a very direct, unfiltered picture. The artists write to me about what is happening, what they are living through, what their families are going through, that younger siblings go to the front as drone pilots and fight as if in a computer game; they tell me where they flee to, what happens to them there, and what wishes, hopes and dark thoughts they carry. To be honest – at the beginning this weighed on me. You want to help, but you have to stay realistic. But I decided to see it as a gift. It makes a huge difference to see the bare numbers on one side and to read the stories of these young people on the other. I want to let you share in this as much as I can. I cannot give details, but between air raid alarms and power outages, emails reach me month after month, along with the confirmations of by now 253 (!) therapy sessions that could only take place thanks to you. And that truly is something special.
Be proud of that. Of what you are doing here! For one second, don’t be critical of yourselves, celebrate yourselves. We have the first participant who has officially completed her therapy! After twelve months and 48 therapy sessions, this artist has stepped out of our UAHP program with courage and new goals into a new life. Her name is Victoria. And in this newsletter I want to tell you about her and her art.
Memory and Identity
Victoria Palma was born in Yalta in 1977. That is the southern coast of the famous and infamous Crimea, the peninsula that has been a plaything of world powers since 2014. She was born into a well-known family of artists. A dynasty of artists, she says, shaped her path: first the children’s art school, then the art academy. Today she stands on the other side and teaches painting herself. Victoria works in contemporary art with a variety of media and drawing techniques. Her great themes are memory and identity. Her works have been shown in solo and group exhibitions, she has taken part in international residencies and organizes festivals and art projects herself. “Art is knowledge, self-exploration and transformation of time“, she writes to me.
Name: Dinner, 2025 | Oil on canvas, 90×150
Her painting “Dinner“ belongs to the project “Monochrome of Existence“ and takes us on a journey through the dreams of an eccentric. “New Year’s Eve“ comes from the project “Pink Line“ about male and female physicality in the color pink.
Name: New Year’s Eve, 2025 | Paper, watercolor, pencil, 100×125
Victoria came to UAHP with heavy, dark questions: she had lost her way, her courage and her hope. “Will I ever get out of here, out of this black hole of war, of apathy?“ Already after the first months she wrote to me: “These conversations bring me back to life and restore my lost self-worth.“ About her psychologist she says: “She has helped me endlessly. She and I, we are going through the hardest of times in the same country, and I now understand how important and precious help is.“
48 sessions, twelve months, from May 2025 to April 2026. Then it was done: Victoria became the first participant to officially complete our therapy. “I am finally moving forward constructively, step by step“, she writes today, “the psychologist gave me so many endlessly valuable tools that help me to finally move ahead.“ And then she wrote this sentence that truly touched me: “Me then and me now: those are two different people.“
Name: Earth’s Path, 2025 | Pencil on paper, 45×34
In her last letter she addresses you: “Please pass on my thanks from the depth of my heart to the sponsors, supporters and participants. Thank you!“
More of Victoria’s work:
instagram.com/victoria.palma.art
facebook.com/PalmaVVictory
Two different people… That really is possible. That is an important, hopeful message, and it gives courage. We can change something! In ourselves. And when we change, we can also change this world. If you are interested in direct contact or would like to acquire works, I will gladly make the connection.
Two New Doors
We have signed a partnership with VIDLIK Projects, a registered Ukrainian artist NGO from Kyiv. This matters because many funding programs require a Ukrainian co-applicant. This partnership will open many doors for us. And something else very beautiful happened, showing what a single decision can bring about: Rita Russek has decided to fund an additional therapy place for a whole year for the youngest participant of our program, a young photographer from Donetsk. Thank you, Rita, from the heart for this decision!
And my request to you remains: if you have contacts to foundations, funders or people who would like to give regular support, please get in touch! A therapy costs about 130 EUR / month and runs for about 12 months. I am happy to arrange sponsorships!
Knocking on Doors
As you know, since spring I have been systematically submitting funding applications. A project outline has been submitted to the zivik program of ifa, for civil conflict resolution through the cultural scene. It is currently under review. At the EZ small projects fund of the Schmitz foundations, the organization audit is under way. From the INTRO scholarship of the Hamburg Ministry of Culture and Media we received rejections, citing limited funds. ZMINA: Resilience, Culture Helps and the Else Kröner-Fresenius Foundation have also declined, the latter with a different funding focus.
My conclusion: it is very hard to find funding for this kind of program. On one side the expenses that cannot be precisely quantified (time frame, therapy needs), on the other side the great responsibility of a commitment. The participants are in the hardest chapter of their lives, they need reliable therapy places, and that demands true dedication from the funding side. Five months of support is simply not enough. So it is difficult to fit UAHP into a ready-made funding scheme, in a funding landscape that is thin enough already when it comes to mental health. Most funding pots tie their engagement to great visibility – with this very personal subject and small participant numbers at the same time, that is almost impossible.
What we are doing here is a true exception. It is a real, individual investment in the life of one human being. Rejections are not pleasant, but they are no drama either. They are part of this kind of work. Giving up is not. I am staying on it.
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