Murals of War in Kharkiv: Visual Narratives of Memory, Resistance, and Decolonisation

Abstract

This article explores the phenomenon of wartime murals in Kharkiv as a form of public visual expression amid the full-scale war. The murals are analysed not only as artistic objects, but also as political, memorial and symbolic gestures that represent experiences of loss, resistance, collective memory and national self-awareness. The focus is on how murals transform urban space, alter its symbolic geography and contribute to the displacement of colonial and Soviet meanings. The author identifies three main types of murals: memorial murals (dedicated to fallen defenders, volunteers and victims of the war), resistance murals (which affirm heroism, national unity and visual protest) and decolonial murals (which reframe urban space through figures of Ukrainian culture, particularly Hryhorii Skovoroda). The study combines methods of visual analysis, theories of cultural memory (Pierre Nora, Aleida Assmann, James Young), urban studies (Andreas Huyssen, Jill Bennett), postcolonial critique (Edward Said, Achille Mbembe), and the Ukrainian experience of decommunisation. Special attention is given to specific examples of murals, their location, visual language, artistic teams and the layers of meaning formed in Kharkiv’s public space. Murals are examined as a form of counternarrative, as acts of visual resistance that mobilise the community while functioning as a living archive of the war. In conclusion, it is argued that Kharkiv’s wartime murals are not only a response to trauma, but also a mechanism for reinterpreting space, shaping a new civic identity and affirming Ukraine as a subject of history resisting both physical and symbolic aggression.