Artist Vitaliy Kokan has unveiled his latest work "In Memory of Us All" on the facade of School No. 165 in Kharkiv, located in the Northern Saltivka area.

This is reported by the cultural platform "Past / Future / Art".

On the wall, he left messages: "This wall bears witness to the horrors of war since February 24, 2022", "Mordor - 35 km", "F-16", "But some didn't leave". These words are complemented by illustrations: a car, a cat, a trident, a diode, a fruit plate, a pistol. Vitaliy Kokan created this piece using his own invented "font", which he conceptualized ten years ago in Kharkiv, chiseling small square tiles from a damaged facade.

"He has almost "tattooed" several walls of the school, integrating the consequences of destruction into the artwork, making them part of the composition", – noted on the platform’s page.

In 2022, the Russian army damaged all buildings in Saltivka. Some structures are being restored, while others will be demolished. School No. 165 has repeatedly suffered from Russian attacks. After engaging with local residents and visiting Saltivka, Vitaliy Kokan decided to create this work specifically on this school.

"Memorialization through street art can be viewed as a temporary or situational approach to working with memory. The ravaged buildings in Saltivka, partly abandoned and lifeless, require new meanings. I see graffiti as a way to breathe life into the silent facades", – says Vitaliy Kokan.

The artwork can be seen on the territory of School No. 165 at the address: Metrobudivnykiv St., 7.

Vitaliy Kokan hails from Sumy. He studied at the Sumy College of Arts and Culture named after D.S. Bortniansky and at the Kharkiv State Academy of Design and Arts in the monumental painting department.

He is a regular participant and curator of the international land art symposium "Borderland Space" in the village of Mogrytsia. He is also a participant in the International Biennale of Youth Projects NonStopMedia.

In 2018, he was nominated for the PinchukArtCentre Prize. He participated in the Laboratory of Memorialization Practices and the competition for memorial projects dedicated to the victims of famines in Ukraine in Melitopol.

Vitaliy Kokan works with media such as sculpture, painting, graphics, installation, photography, video, and land art, focusing on issues of collective memory.