There are things that are currently unreachable. However, this does not mean they are non-existent.

In 2026 we created a graphic novel about such things. About things that are out of our physical reach, however, are still present in our memories. About walls, which hold our history even when they are themselves destroyed or unattainable. About walls, which turned out to be people.

 

This is a story of three places in the Kherson region. And three communities, which for many years worked with these locations, each in its own unique way.

“Stone Embroideries” of Nova Kakhovka – monumental art that for a long time was invisible in its home country until it was rediscovered by the Nova Kakhovka Society for the Protection of Cultural Heritage.

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Fortress of Tіahyn – a medieval archaeological monument that returns the south of Ukraine into the context of European history as the result of years of work by the Ukraine-Lithuania Cultural Centre.

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House of the artist Polina Raiko in Oleshky – space of naïve art, created from personal pain and losses and transformed into language understood by everyone – legacy with which the Centre of Cultural Development “Totem” fell in love in the now distant year 2002.

These stories differ in time, form, and content. But they have something in common: each story started when civil society activists managed to see in the heritage not simply a background but sense and voluntarily led the mission to become its voice, to research and preserve it.

 

For many years, this work was carried out next to the objects themselves. However, on February 24, 2022, everything came to an end – or so it seemed.

Since the first days of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine, the Kherson region became a territory where heritage is under threat of destruction or total isolation. Polina Rayko’s house was flooded. Tiahyn Fortress is in a zone of constant shelling. “Stone Embroideries” remains in the occupied territory, where it is impossible to assess the scale of its destruction. There is no opportunity to be nearby, touch, and work on location. And thus the usual forms and methods of interacting with heritage have disappeared. However, the people for whom this heritage was not just work but a part of their lives did not disappear. Despite the forced relocation, three organizations were able to recover, and now they continue to do what was needed: work with senses. They found and created new formats of work with heritage: digital archives, virtual museums, street and gallery exhibitions, lectures and workshops, art projects, and even board games.

This wasn’t just a search for new tools. It was an answer to a question, simple and complicated at the same time: how to live with a physically inaccessible heritage?

 

At one point, it became clear: these are not three separate stories. This is a shared experience.

An experience of loss and responsibility at the same time.

An experience of finding new forms of presence where the possibility of direct interaction is no longer an option.

 

The graphic novel ‘Walls’ has been exhibited in 14 communities across Ukraine, including frontline regions. And it continues its journey, bringing together and inspiring those who work to preserve endangered heritage.

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The project was implemented with the support of the Partnership Fund for a Resilient Ukraine.

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