War Toys: Ukraine

Since 2011, internationally recognized photographer Brian McCarty has been collaborating with specialized therapists and children who have been affected by conflict on a unique project titled War Toys, which is now active in and near Ukraine. The project invokes principles of expressive art therapy to safely gather and articulate children’s accounts of warfare.
Children often share their experiences and emotions through indirect methods of communication, such as art and play. As a result, their personal accounts of war frequently go unseen and unheard by the international community. War Toys: Ukraine presents universally understood accounts of conflict while drawing attention to the individual children and communities who have been affected by armed conflict.
Viewers of the exhibition War Toys: Ukraine will see 30 of the children’s drawings presented alongside McCarty’s staged photographs. In the process of sharing their artwork, children would often reveal the details that were most important or impactful to them, but some elements were buried, as if to protect them. The viewers’ eyes will move back and forth from McCarty’s works to the children’s drawings, recognizing the similarities and differences, but most importantly, reading between the lines. Exhibition visitors will also gain an understanding of the specialized support for children and caregivers and the psychosocial programs developed by the War Toys nonprofit organization founded by McCarty in 2019 as a result of his project.