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Toby King-Thompson is a contemporary artist based in London, UK. As a synesthete, Toby sees words, names, and digits in color. His works have been featured extensively internationally and he is experienced in fine art, post-impressionism, and abstract expressionism. Holding a BA in International Relations from the University of Exeter, Toby has centered global affairs in a number of his works.

As an International Relations graduate, I wanted my artwork to provide a snapshot of the desolate consequences of diverging policy between the western-led order and Russia’s support for Ukraine’s then-President Viktor Yanukovych. This piece aimed to capture the very epicenter of a national and international crisis. It provides a glimpse of the impact, struggle, pain, and hostility at a micro-level. My artwork displays the situation ‘on the ground’ surrounding the Ukrainian crisis showing a pro-democracy Ukrainian citizen being beaten by uniformed Ukrainian Riot police following orders from the pro-Russian Ukrainian President Yanukovych.  

This piece aimed to highlight via a bottom-up approach the wider geopolitical crisis: the increased confrontation and hostility between the Western-led order and Russia. In 2013, Ukraine found itself as the battleground between Cold War-style pressures from Russia to undermine and influence democracy abroad to sway the expansion of Europeanization in order to shift the balance of power in Russia’s favor. Russia was deeply concerned with the eastward expansion of NATO and the EU in the post-Soviet sphere. This trajectory of liberal democracy and economic liberalization in Ukraine was at direct odds with Putinism. Thus, when President Viktor Yanukovych refused to sign the association agreement with the EU in November 2013, mass violent unrest was sparked and a new political movement called ‘Euromaidan’ ultimately led to a revolution and overthrow of Yanukovych. On-going conflict and civil war, particularly in eastern Ukraine, between the Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian militants, dominated Ukraine for many years to follow, even leading to Russia annexing Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. 

My artwork aimed to show the emotive struggle and suffering Russia’s foreign policy has had on Ukraine and its people. Showing a helpless pro-democracy Ukrainian being brutally beaten as a consequence of deep tensions between two political ideals in Europe.

Now, in 2022, the geopolitical situation in Ukraine has shifted much. Indeed, conflict still ferments in Ukraine’s Eastern region of Donbas, provoked by Russian-backed separatists. But, more recently, Russia has amassed about 125,000 troops on Ukraine’s border equipped with tanks and other sophisticated military weaponry. Talks have stalled as Russia calls for a ban on Ukraine’s potential membership in NATO in the future, which the United States and its allies have called a “nonstarter.” Again, the eastern expansion of western, American influence in Europe has precipitated conflict; the very real threat of all-out war is ever more distressing for Ukraine and its allies. 

Yet, as the world ponders the macro-level changes to the world order, the micro-level effects of the situation on Ukrainian citizens are all but forgotten. In capturing this, Euromaidan remains incredibly poignant. On the one hand, my artwork created in 2013 captured a specific set of geopolitical tensions as a moment in history; on the other hand, it reveals how art’s relevance can endure the passage of time.  No one knows how this story will climax but it is clear that this picture will always depict part of the story's foundation.