Artists Worldwide Protest War in Ukraine With Paintbrushes and Pixels

An artist from the Gurukul School of Art in Mumbai, India, works on a detail from a painting bearing the message "Save Ukraine" on Feb. 24, the day Russia invaded the country in a move Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called a "war against the whole of Europe." 

Since then, artists the world over have expressed their opposition to the deadly war, on stages; in song; and on canvases, walls, sidewalks and computer screens. 

Click through the gallery to see some of their powerful creations.  

Another image from the first day of the war, this one painted on a wall near the Russian embassy in Rome by street artist Laika 1954. It shows Russian and Ukrainian tanks turning their cannon into a peace sign. 

A mural seen in the Leith district of Edinburgh, Scotland, on April 5 features a nightingale, the official national bird of Ukraine, against the country's flag.

A giant installation in Paris by French street artist JR shows a huge picture of a young Ukrainian refugee named Valeriia. Valeriia appeared on the cover of a double issue of Time magazine for the weeks of March 28 and April 4 alongside the words "Resilience of Ukraine." The 5-year-old is from Kryvyi Rih, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's hometown in central Ukraine. 

Almost one child per second in Ukraine is becoming a refugee, the United Nations said in March.  

In Prague, a mother holds her child in front of a mural showing a little girl surrounded by toys hiding under a Ukrainian flag. "As a father of two," the artist ChemiS wrote in a statement, "I cannot imagine the helplessness, pain and fear that ordinary people experience. We have all seen footage of bodies, ruined cities and full gyms of women with children and their grandparents. Please keep helping and showing what values we stand for." 

A passerby in Barcelona snaps a photo of a public drawing by Italian artist TvBoy that shows three children planting a flag of peace on a Russian tank. "Kids are hope," the artist says of the work. 

Elsewhere in France, in Roubaix, Ukrainian-American street and studio artist Maya Hayuk poses in front of her fresco dedicated to Ukraine. It's part of the exhibition "Urbain.es" organized by La Condition Publique of Roubaix, which aims to address social issues through art. Blue and yellow, the colors of the Ukrainian flag, figure prominently in the wall art. The exhibition runs through July 24. 

On April 5, people in Granard, Ireland, pass a mural of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, by artist Phil Atkinson.

Another depiction in Ireland of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. This one's by artist Aches, who specializes in large-scale murals and graffiti, and it's in central Dublin. 

An artist draws an intricate mural on the ground in Trafalgar Square. Demonstrations in support of Ukraine have been ongoing in London since Russia invaded on Feb. 24. 

Open platform Creatives for Ukraine lets artists upload their illustrations and designs related to the war in Ukraine to be used for free. The platform received more than a thousand digital artworks from around the world during its launch month. 

In this acrylic on canvas uploaded to the platform, a sunflower, Ukraine's national flower, "rises from shadows and shows its strength by facing the sun, just as Ukraine has shown to the world," writes artist Juhi Bharat. 

Many of the works uploaded to Creatives for Ukraine, like this one by Gabija Zava, are rendered in blue and yellow, the colors of the Ukrainian flag. 

Alex Nirenberg's image, titled War in Ukraine, takes inspiration from Pablo Picasso's 1937 oil painting Guernica, which depicts the cruelty and terror of war. Picasso painted it in response to the bombing of the Spanish town of Guernica, located in the Basque region, during the Spanish Civil War. 

The Creatives for Ukraine platform is currently most popular among artists from the US, the UK, Germany and Lithuania. "The artworks are used as tools to raise money and awareness, to illustrate horrendous war crimes, to show support and bring hope,"  says Ignas Kozlovas, creative director at  FOLK agency and co-author of the initiative. "From tiny magnets or stickers that were sold to raise money, to the huge billboards in the streets, every bit counts." 

An image uploaded to open art platform Creatives for Ukraine appears on a JCDecaux billboard in Lithuania. More than 300 billboards across six Lithuanian cities have expressed solidarity with Ukraine by exhibiting digital illustrations from the platform, which makes the art available for free. 

"Ukrainians who run from the war and arrive in Lithuania say that such support is inspiring," said JCDecaux Lietuva CEO Žaneta Fomova. "When they see the colors of Ukraine on the streets every day, they feel they're welcome here."