Iva Urban is an artist from Ukraine. She was one of the workshop facilitators at the art family workshop at Lea Bridge Library, where she helped children and adults create a collage on what ‘home’ means to them. The workshop was organised by our Resettlement Team as part of Refugee Week, a week-long event celebrating the amazing contributions of refugees to society.
Iva said, “My paintings explore my journey to Great Britain, and I am really happy and thankful to be here. My art is shaped by movement, memory, and culture. Art is a language without words and something that connects us all.
“When the war started, we moved to Poland. We stayed in a beautiful village. We lived next to the mountains with a castle. I have memories of this place; it was home for one month. Next, we moved to the Netherlands. I painted Keukenhof, a beautiful park with many flowers. It’s amazing. My other painting is of yellow sunflowers against a blue backdrop, which represents my memories from Ukraine. In Ukraine, we have many fields with sunflowers.
“Art and culture matter; they connect us beyond the borders and beyond the times.”
The final completed workshop from the family art workshop.
We have been a Borough of Sanctuary since December 2023, as designated by the UK charity City of Sanctuary. We are proud of the diversity within our borough and have a history of being a welcoming place for people from all over the world who want to make Waltham Forest their home.
