It all began two years ago with the start of the war in Ukraine: the German airbrush manufacturer Harder & Steenbeck immediately contacted artists and business partners they knew in Ukraine and immediately brought the family of an airbrush dealer and an artist outside of Ukraine to safety. However, the artist Anzhela Dmytrenko did not want to leave her country for personal reasons, so Harder & Steenbeck began supporting her work at the Okhmatdyt Children's Hospital in Kyiv: there, Anzhela painted the walls of the corridors and various departments, bringing smiles to the faces of many children, parents and even staff, and giving them new hope. Harder & Steenbeck created the Kyiv Infinity together with Anzhela, and the proceeds from the sale enabled Anzhela to continue working on this project. The hospital management wanted this more than direct financial support. The result was more than 700 square metres of artwork.
In July 2024, a rocket hit the children's hospital in Kyiv directly, killing several people. Anzhela Dmytrenko and Anastasiia Maherramova, the children's hospital's press officer, who always accompanied Anzhela's work for the media with her camera, were fortunately unharmed, but it became increasingly clear to them that what had been created there in the hospital through Anzhela's art should also benefit other children and adults in the world. And so the idea for KRYLA, the Ukrainian word for wing, was born: KRYLA is to be a charity based in Germany that, under the leadership of Anzhela Dmytrenko and Anastasiia Maherramova, will collect donations to enable artists worldwide to use their art to bring joy, comfort and hope to hospitals and social institutions. The aim is for not only the people in the institutions, but also airbrush artists to benefit from the jobs created. To set up the project, Warrick Smith, General Manager of Harder & Steenbeck, has launched an online fundraising campaign.
On the website gofundme.org, Warrick describes the details of the project and tells the whole story of the Okhmatdyt Children's Hospital in Kyiv, Anzhela and her art, as well as the fates of the children and parents and how the painted rooms could help them. The target donation of €50,000 needs to be reached in order to get the organisation's work off the ground.
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