Exhibition BLUE-YELLOW-BLACK-WHITE
Foreword:
As part of the German-Baltic Conference (GBC) 2026, we once again had the opportunity to see an exhibition by Liivika Põvat-Straus’s students, just as we did at the GBC 2024 in Vilnius.
Liivika Põvat-Straus is a teacher at the Tartu Art School who works with students from Ukraine and inspires them every day. At the 2026 GBC conference, her exhibition “BLUE-YELLOW-BLACK-WHITE” was on display in the Gertrud Room at the Tallinn Teachers’ House. Liivika Põvat-Straus describes the exhibition as follows:
More than five years have now passed since the beginning of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, yet there seems to be no end in sight to the suffering of this brave nation. Reading war news has become part of our everyday lives and, over the years, a habit. We are no longer shocked by the daily reports of civilians killed in Russian attacks — we have grown a thick skin. After all, human beings get used to almost anything...
We have also become accustomed to Ukrainian war refugees living among us and have come to regard the situation as something ordinary. But how do the refugees themselves feel, having been forcibly torn away from their lives by war? This is difficult for those of us who live in peacetime to even imagine. A young generation of Ukrainians is now growing up in Estonian society — a generation for whom a significant part of their lives has been spent in exile and whose physical connection with Ukraine has been severed by an external force.
Through this exhibition, created from works by my Ukrainian, Estonian, and Russian-speaking Estonian students, I would like to draw attention to the theme of integration among us. I hope that such integration is possible in a way that allows everyone to preserve their national identity and cultural self-determination.
As an artist who loves working with textiles, I have developed a technique for creating textile pictures in which even a student with no sewing skills can express themselves creatively using a needle, thread, ribbon, and fabric. I would call it freehand embroidery.
This form of self-expression is a tribute to our foremothers, who were skilled in handicrafts, while at the same time serving as a counterpoint to the current AI mania. Artificial intelligence would not be able to create the works displayed in our exhibition...
A little about our school as well: the Tallinn branch of Tartu Art School was established in January 2023 specifically for young Ukrainian war refugees. Initially, the one-year art programme was attended exclusively by young Ukrainians aged 15–26. By now, many of the refugees have become integrated into Estonian society, and the proportion of students from Ukraine has decreased. Most of our students are art-loving Estonians and Estonian residents whose native language is Russian. The exhibition seeks to bring our diverse group together as one friendly family. Symbolically, young people from different backgrounds are united by the colours of their home countries’ flags, intertwining into a cheerful combination of BLUE-YELLOW-BLACK-WHITE.
Liivika Põvat-Straus
Teacher
Tartu Art School
