'Strong message of peace': Moving Ukrainian artwork unveiled in Ludlow

Ukrainian artist Svitlana Dzedzei, a refugee from her homeland, who is currently living in Cleobury Mortimer, has worked to bring the piece to the country – in collaboration with Ludlow Town Council and Erica Garner of Ludlow Supports Refugees.

The piece includes 500 hand-made 'angels' – picked to represent the children who have died during the war.

The angels have been suspended from trees at the Castle Gardens in Ludlow thanks to the town council, providing a striking and poignant message to remind people of the continuing conflict, and the need for peace.

The work was officially unveiled at a ceremony on Saturday morning, where Mrs Dzedzei was joined by fellow Ukrainians, Ludlow mayor Councillor Glenn Ginger and members of Ludlow Supports Refugees.

Mrs Dzedzei, originally from Lviv, has collaborated with Ukrainian mothers in Europe who have also fled their homeland, who created the piece, which has already been displayed in Slovakia and Cyprus.

They have made the angels, in the colours of the Ukrainian flag, which have been arranged on a netting allowing them to be suspended in the air.

Mrs Dzedzei said: "Our goal is to show people all over the world how cruel and senseless war is. And that each of us has the right to live in peace, without evil and violence, and calmly raise our children, putting in their hearts only goodness, light and respect for of human life, love for people and the world in which they live."

The work will be moved to St Laurence's Church in Ludlow after nine days at its current location.

Following that it will move to St Mary's Church in Cleobury Mortimer, before travelling to Shrewsbury, and on to Germany.

The work will initially hang underneath the clock on the tower of St Mary's before being moved inside.

Ms Garner, who is also a Ludlow town councillor, but completed the work in her role with the refugee support group, said that more angels would be added to the work as children's lives continue to be lost in the conflict.

She said they hoped the work would remind people that the war is still going on.

"Ultimately the aim is to show how cruel and senseless war is and how every one of us has the right to live in peace," she said.

"This is a piece about the loss of a child's life, so each one of the woven Ukrainian angels depicts the loss of a child in Ukraine."

The idea for hosting the display came about through Mrs Dzedzei's engagement with Ludlow Supports Refugees, which has been helping Ukrainians settling in south west Shropshire and north Herefordshire since the Russian invasion.

She said: "Svitlana started talking to me about it and I said where would you like to put it in Ludlow and we started discussing where it might go and I got in touch with Ludlow Town Council because they run the Castle Gardens and they overwhelmingly wanted it there and have supported it, putting the angels up yesterday."

Ms Garner said that passers-by had been emotional at discovering the meaning behind the work.

She said: "I started talking to people about what it was about and they were very, very moved when they were looking up at the angels and thinking that each one represents a child that has been killed.

"It is a huge privilege to display them but there is a huge sadness as well."

She added: "It is about the strong message of peace – that we need peace. They have been at war for a year almost, and it is just cruel and senseless.

"And because it has been going on for a year, I check the news every day because I am involved, but sometimes people have short memories and they tune out of it, and we need this sort of thing to remember that this is going on and these people are like you and me – they are the same as us."