DAVIS, Calif. — As the war continues in Ukraine, art history is in jeopardy.
Recently a Kharkiv art museum suffered damage after a bombardment of attacks from Russian forces. In Lviv, staff prepares to protect a museum there. Packing away precious art collections away from a war that could destroy them forever.
Meanwhile, thousands of miles away, a UC Davis professor is telling this story to her students.
"They are destroying the cultural heritage, trying to erase history, culture, and not just of their enemy, but their own," said Victoria Juharyan, Visiting Assistant Professor of Russian at UC Davis.
Juharyan's knowledge of Slavic art and literature is vast, her passion brighter than the colors on the paintbrush.
"One of the museums currently in jeopardy, as Kyiv is being bombed, is the Ukrainian 60s dissident movement Museum," Juharyan said.
And her students, like Olya Agorov, absorb the strokes of knowledge and history.
Half Russian, Agorov said in times of chaos, it is imperative to create and express emotions.
"We have the ability to create so we should," Agorov said.
The paintings being preserved represent the past, and protect freedoms.
"I think it's now more crucial than ever, to show and not to allow the invaders to rewrite history and to silence the voices that have already been silent way too many times," Juharyan said.
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