This exhibition catalog presents a collaborative work of Yohanan Petrovsky-Shtern, scholar and artist, and the key Ukrainian and Jewish writers, art scholars, politicians, educators, journalists, and poets, who unravel the visual mysteries of his artwork on display at the Ukrainian Institute of America in the fall of 2025. Together they address in real time the catastrophic events of nowadays, including ideological brainwashing, imperial aggression, political hypocrisy, cultural genocide, and the immensity of human suffering. The artworks and essays ponder the question of resilience and survival of a nation-in-the making in the situation of a global crisis of humanity.

The volume's contributors are Alex Averbuch, Rory Finnin, Amelia Glaser, Olena Grozovska, Anna Gruver, Borys Gudziak, Yuriy Gurzhy, Tamara Hundorova, Rodger Kamenetz, Mykola Kniazhytsky, Serhii Kvit, Oksana Lutsyshyna, Vasyl Makhno, Oleksandra Matviichuk, Joel Mokyr, Myroslava Mudrak, Mykhailo Nazarenko, Oxana Pachlovska, Yohanan Petrovsky-Shtern, Katja Petrowskaya, Ilia Rodov, Edward Serotta, Anastasiia Simferovska, Benjamin Sloan, Edjan Westerman, and Marcin Wodzinski.

"Darkness forces us to seek light, war, to find strength to fight, tragedy, to identify friends, fear, to seek meaning. Art supports us on this quest. That is why art about and for Ukraine has a distinct value, that is why Yohanan's works help us pave this path."

Nikita Titov, Ukrainian artist, Kharkiv - Ivano-Frankivsk