Lucy Dale, Staff Writer–
As the world marks the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Denison students joined Ohio State students, staff, and community members on Feb. 21 for “Sheltering in Place.” This event highlighted Ukrainian heritage through poetry, music, and visual art.
Along with the event, an exhibit will be displayed through Feb. 28 in the Lawrence and Isabel Barnett Center for Integrated Arts and Enterprise Collaboratory in Sullivant Hall on the Ohio State University campus.
Before the event, Denison student Gabby Ronan ‘25, said she hoped to gain “a new experience and a broader sense of understanding” by attending.
The event featured Ukrainian-born artists living in the U.S. Among the participants were award-winning poets Luisa Muradyan and Julia Kolchinsky, musician Olena Mladenova, and visual artist Olga Morozova. The event’s mission was to underscore the ongoing humanitarian crisis and the resilience of the Ukrainian people.
Dr. Julia Kolchinsky, an Assistant Professor of English and Creative Writing at Denison University, was one of the artists at the event who presented her poetry. Her recent awards include Hunger Mountain’s Ruth Stone Poetry Prize, Michigan Quarterly Review’s Prize in Nonfiction, and a Sustainable Arts Foundation Grant.
Muradyan, who also read poetry at the event, is the winner of the 2017 Raz/Shumaker Prairie Schooner Book Prize and a member of the Cheburashka Collective, a collective of women, nonbinary writers, and people of marginalized gender identities who are refugees/first-gen from the Soviet diaspora. Muradyan joined Kolchinsky’s classes on Friday to share her experience as a Ukrainian poet.
Fernanda Anzures Desquens ‘27 shared her thoughts on the connection between artistic expression and geopolitical conflicts.
“Art gets into emotions and the rawness of being human, which connects with people.”
She also said that when art is used to spread awareness about geopolitical conflicts, it “not only brings attention to the problems, but it connects and engages humans that would not be involved otherwise.”
Desquens also commented on the impact of the invasion of Ukraine. “There has been a lot of power and political plays that are fundamentally shifting the way the world operates at the moment.”
As of January 2025, the conflict in Ukraine has displaced over 3.5 million people within the country and forced over 6.8 million to leave. According to the U.N., humanitarian assistance will remain substantial in 2025, with an estimated 12.7 million requiring humanitarian aid and protection.
Dr. Kolchinsky commented on the impact of her Ukrainian heritage on her poetry. “To some extent, the war enters nearly everything I write as it does every aspect of my daily life, from texting to parenting my children to turning on the lights and being aware there are those in Ukraine without power due to missile strikes.”
The war has led to shifting alliances of the world’s most influential players, an uptick in international security risks, nuclear weapon risks, an energy and food crisis, and breached fundamental international law, according to ChathamHouse.org.
The “Sheltering in Place” event serves as a cultural showcase and a poignant reminder of the war’s enduring impact. “I love its purpose,” said Lauren Rapach, ‘25, when asked about her reason for attending.
This event’s significance extends beyond art—it reflects history, resistance, and the evolving global response to a war that has reshaped international relations. With high-profile artists and scholars involved, the event offered an urgent and deeply personal lens on the war’s ongoing consequences.
“Art is not only inherently political; it is also geopolitical,” Kolchinsky said. “Especially for those of us with ancestral and cultural outside of the United States, which, is really all of us to some extent, considering that this is a country founded upon those who come from elsewhere, a country largely of immigrants.”