St. Michael’s Square, Kiev, Ukraine

In 2024 the Howard G. Buffett Foundation commissioned me to create a series of models depicting the war in Ukraine to help raise awareness about this terrible conflict. Based on photographs taken by Howard Buffett on his many trips to the country, the models in this series serve as straight documentation of the reality of the war.

The series includes:

• An apartment building in the city of Borodyanka that was hit by a Russian airstrike
• St. Michael’s square in Kiev, which is used as an open-air museum to display captured and destroyed Russian armored vehicles. The model also includes a civilian train car that was attacked by Russian forces and a statue of Princess Olga, a saint who wears an armored vest
• A mass grave site in which Ukrainian civilians and soldiers murdered by the Russian army were interred
• Scenes from Kamianka, a small village that was occupied and virtually destroyed by the Russian army

The Foundation, which works to combat food insecurity and mitigate conflict, scaled up its support for the people of Ukraine after the full-scale Russian invasion in 2022. Food assistance and resources for internally displaced persons; donations of farm equipment and agricultural assistance for small-scale producers; purchases of Ukrainian grain for developing nations where food insecurity has been exacerbated by the conflict; and support for investigation and documentation of war crimes and crimes against humanity are just some of the ways the Foundation has worked to support Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression.