Colour captures fear – bringing reality of war to life
Silent Night, My Astronaut is the story of the impact of war - told through the eyes of a child living through the first days of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Illustrator Kateryna Stepanishcheva talks to Rob Green about how she set about capturing the fear and anguish felt in the unknown early days of war.
KATERYNA Stepanishcheva is a Ukrainian illustrator and textile artist. Her latest work sees her join forces with author, and fellow Ukrainian Oksana Lushchevska for a book that tells the story of war through the eyes of a child.
Silent Night, My Astronaut was released in Ukraine prior to its English translation and Kateryna says she has drawn on her own experiences of the Russian invasion to create the dynamic illustrations within the book.
She says: “I wanted to show all my emotions and feelings as much as possible. It was important for me to capture that incredibly hard experience in images and metaphors and convey it to the reader. However, I also wanted to avoid images of violent scenes. It seems to me that it can help in the formation of humanity.”
Colours also play an important role in Kateryna’s
art, as she explains: “I really wanted to support all Ukrainians, that’s why I defined the main colours of the book as yellow and blue – the colours of our flag are the powerful support for Ukrainians, wherever they are.”
She reveals that the blue and yellow of the national flag have been important in her previous works, saying: “I have been using a whole direction in my work in which all illustrations are made in red and black colours since the full-scale invasion in 2022.
Autumn-Winter 2024
Moreover, I actively use elements of Easter egg decorations, embroidered shirts and towels from the 19th and early 20th centuries in my works. In addition, I like to create illustrations in the yellow and blue colours of the Ukrainian flag. I feel inner strength and resistance in native motifs – they help me to keep going.”
Kateryna says that her influences changed following the start of war, adding her work with textiles has also been instrumental in developing her style and allowing her to harness Ukrainian influences that stretch back into history. She says: “I can’t say that I settled on one style, I like to continuously look for new artistic methods. My textile higher education has a great influence on me – I really love patterns, and I often pay special attention to fabrics in illustrations. “After the beginning of the full-scale invasion, our Ukrainian ethnographic heritage had a great influence on my creativity (especially – towels, embroidered clothes, Easter eggs, carpet weaving, and painting). I reconstruct elements of folk art and bring them into my illustrations. Now I even have a whole direction in my artwork, where I paint exclusively in red and black (the main colours of embroidery on Ukrainian towels and shirts). The works of Maria Prymachenko inspired me with imagination, incredible decorativeness and laconic images.” Looking at Silent Night, My Astronaut Kateryna
PEN&INC. 21
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60
