The Bucha Blackboard
*Thank you to all who donated to help rebuild the playgrounds and sports stadiums of Bucha and Irpin area schools in Ukraine. The board is about to go on a small tour, before taking its place in a museum in the UK. More on this soon…
The Bucha Blackboard is one of the few objects to have survived the Russian military occupation of Bucha—that now-infamous Ukrainian suburb of Kyiv, where Kremlin soldiers commandeered a school and massacred hundreds of civilians during their brief yet brutal rule. A young student who survived the invasion wrote his story on the board, which once hung in his former classroom.
“Hello. My name is Ivan. I am 12 years old. I live in Bucha, Ukraine. I have four dogs and a chinchilla named Masha. I love football. This board is one of the few things that survived in my school. Russian invaders destroyed my city. They tortured and killed people. I was scared because there were explosions all the time, so my family and I had to hide in the basement. Thousands of Ukrainian schools are destroyed. I want to see my classmates. I want to go to school. I am tired of being with only Masha. Ivan”
The Russians were eventually forced out, leaving a trail of bodies across the streets and gardens of this devastated community. Many more lay in a mass grave. Torture and rape were routinely used.
Danzico Studios transported the board to Ivan from his destroyed school in Ukraine and helped him write his story on the board using chalk and paint
Ivan (Іван) and his family, however, were never detected. The 12-year-old survived with eight other family members by hiding in a damp basement, approximately 1.5 by 3.5 meters in diameter. Their only reprieve was at night, when they would quietly slip upstairs to use the bathroom and feed their pets, one of which was a chinchilla, named Masha.
Hiding in the basement
Ivan hid in a small basement (1.5 by 3.5 meters) for three weeks with eight family members until an escape route opened up. He and his mother ultimately escaped the Russian occupation of his town.
Designer and filmmaker Matt Danzico spent weeks interviewing Ivan and his family. Based upon those interviews, and along with the help of Ivan’s mother and local producer Oleksiy Oliyar, Ivan created this message. With the permission of Ivan’s principal, the blackboard—which made it through bombardments with only minor shrapnel damage—continues on as an educational tool. But now, instead of teaching children poetry or algebra, it is informing people around the world about the ongoing war.
An incredible thank you to our very special team of producers and journalists, all of whom worked diligently to help transport the board around and ultimately out of Ukraine. That team includes Oleksiy Oliyar, Jack Losh, Oleg Sologub, Lucía Román Canivell, and Azhnjuk Jurij.
The board is currently on display at Westminster City Hall in London.
If you’d like to display The Bucha Blackboard, contact Danzico Studios at info@danzicostudios.com.
*We are currently raising funds to help rebuild the schools and youth sports stadiums in Irpin and Bucha, Ukraine. Donate here.