Viktor Melamed is an artist who has worked in the genres of illustration and caricature for over 25 years. He has contributed sketches to many well-known periodicals, including The New Yorker and Rolling Stone, and authored the book on illustration, "The Machinery of Portraits." Since the second day of the war, he has been creating portraits of people who have died as a result of the actions of the Russian army. Currently, there are about 900 such portraits.

"I draw every day. I missed the first day, but then I sketched one, and then another… It wasn't a conscious decision like, 'Let's draw portraits every day.' … It was just that by the third portrait, it became clear that this was a valuable artistic expression worth investing time and effort into…"

Melamed’s project goes beyond showcasing his artistic skills; it represents a deep empathetic engagement, as creating these portraits requires not only technical skills but also significant emotional effort. The artist sees a portrait as a declaration of love. He aims to capture the emotions and character of each person, focusing on their most natural and common facial expressions.

"I try to imagine the person alive, to remember them without being able to truly remember… I might not capture an exact likeness. In fact, I probably miss the mark quite often. Many portraits might not resemble the person accurately. But it is an honest effort."

At the exhibition opening, 890 portraits will be presented, but by the end of the month-long exhibition, 30 more will be added, bringing us closer to understanding the true weight of what Russian diplomats call 'collateral damage.'

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