Jewish charities join forces to sell works by Ukrainian artists to raise money for war-torn country

FestivAlt was founded by the Rubenfelds to explore Judaism through an artistic lens, sharing different interpretations of what being Jewish means, and what it can be.

Mr Rubenfeld said: “We’re Jews, we’re artists, and we’re activists. We made the decision that as a Jewish organisation, it was our duty to get involved.

"We located ourselves in the former Krakow ghetto to ensure that we’re not forgetting our history and to be constantly in relationship to that and then two-and-a-half hours away on the border there was arguably an attempted genocide, so it just felt like if we did nothing, we would only be hypocritical.”

Alina drove many of the works to Krakow herself. “It is still difficult to cross the border from Ukraine to Poland or from Poland to Ukraine,” she told the JC.

Morozova When the Sun Sets

Another of the artworks for sale at auction

“I didn’t really understand what I had to have as documents to cross the border with art. At the border, the Polish side stopped me and told me that I had to go to the other line and to pay a lot of taxes for this art because it’s very expensive.

“I was like, ‘Oh no, no, guys, it’s for charity.’”

She said that Polish border security went as far as saying that she could end up in jail for transporting art without permission, despite having been given the art by the artists themselves. She described it as “super-scary”.

Eventually, they let her through with all the art, and without paying enormous taxes.
“Since the beginning of the war Alina’s been going non-stop to do everything she can to help, sacrificing herself,” said Mr Rubenfeld. “She’s incredible in terms of her capacity to get things done in Ukraine.”

Meanwhile, in the UK, Debra Brunner’s charity The Together Plan was sending money to support charities in Eastern Europe, and in June Mr Rubenfeld approached her about the Ukraine art project: “Michael said, we are going to do this campaign, do you want to partner? I said, we’ll help in any way we can. I’m a great believer in charities working together.”

The Together Plan, The Jewish Tapestry Project and FestivAlt are working together to promote the auction and encourage as many bids as possible.

Asked why people should spend their money on Ukrainian art, Alina said: “If you buy this art, you have to understand that you are buying lives, literally.”

She added: “If you’re buying art, you’re buying medicine for wounded people and you are actually saving real lives.”

To take part in the auction, visit fightwithart.com