Second East Coast Ukrainian Festival honours 'our roots'

Ukrainian artists, dancers and musicians came from all over the Maritimes to participate in the second East Coast Ukrainian Festival on Sunday in Halifax.

Olha Khaperska, president of the East Coast Ukrainian Association, said the festival is important to keep her country "in focus" and highlight the need to support it in its ongoing war with Russia.

"It's also important to show that we are our own people, that we have a unique culture and that we have a lot to share with the world," said Khaperska.

Khaperska organized the event at the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21 with the help of other organizations such as the Ukrainian Club of Moncton and the Ukrainian Association of Fredericton.

The festival's theme was "Honouring our roots."

Khaperska said proceeds from the event would be directed toward supporting Ukrainian soldiers, with a particular focus on providing them with thermal heating pads.

Culture as resistance

But beyond fundraising for Ukraine, Oksana Tesla said celebrating her culture amid the war is a form of resistance. 

Tesla, the president of the Ukrainian Association of Fredericton, said the festival brings together a large diaspora and provides them a sense of comfort.

"When we are surrounded by Ukrainian art, when we are surrounded by Ukrainian music, instrumental, songs, people who speak our native language, we feel like we are home even though we are a thousand miles away. It creates that comfort that warms and gives the security," she said.

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Artists from Ukraine, the Maritimes and beyond

Iryna Babiak, an artist from Ukraine living in Moncton, founded B&I Art Studio to showcase her work in Petrykivka painting, a traditional Ukrainian art style known for its distinctive floral patterns. 

She came to the event to sell her work in this art style, which is included in the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

She also wanted to support other artists like herself.

"I like to support people who make Ukrainian stuff and brought Ukrainian traditions to other people to see," said Babiak. 

Ianko Penafort, the lead singer of the band Los Iankovers, came all the way from Colombia to Halifax to perform at the festival. 

Born in Colombia to a Colombian father and a Ukrainian mother, Penafort said he always tries to honour both cultures through his music.

He said through music and art, Ukraine has a "powerful tool" even in times of war.

"Some years ago, I went a lot of times to Ukraine and I always played and sang there Latin music. But at some moment in my life, I felt like this responsibility also to bring my other roots, my Ukrainian roots," he said.