As the third month of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues, Ukrainians here in the U.S. are still finding new ways to raise awareness.
One example is 26-year-old Daria, who is a graphic design student at Cañada College in Redwood City.
“This is like the way for me to express myself and my feelings and my thoughts about what was going on,” she said.
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Daria grew up in the city of Kherson in Ukraine, where her family still lives. The city is now occupied by Russia.
“My family being woken up by shelling and bombing every single night and yeah this is their reality, so the least we can do is talk about it,” she said.
Or in Daria’s case, design about it
“I was, as well, inspired by Zelensky’s courage,” she said.
Daria said she created a design of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky’s face, modeled after Shepard Fairey’s ‘Hope’ design for former president Barack Obama’s campaign.
“I want to convey a message, right? I want it to be powerful, I want it to be meaningful,” she said.
Daria been selling the shirts online. All the proceeds go to Bay Area-based profit Nova Ukraine, which is providing humanitarian aid.
“It's been more than 2 months right now, and in the beginning, everyone would talk about it, and now we’re just getting used to the idea of a war somewhere in eastern Europe,” she said.
"I talk to my family every day so I know what’s going on, but people here [in the U.S.] living their life, they’re safe, they’re happy it's hard to imagine what terrible things are going on in Ukraine right now with people dying, it's like an ongoing nightmare,” Daria continued.
With these shirts, Daria hopes to raise awareness that real lives are at still stake.
For more information on the shirts, visit this page.
