Icons on Ammunition Boxes
Icons on Ammunition Boxes Exhibition
in Great St Mary's
4th-24th October 2025
About the Exhibition
Icons on Ammunition Boxes is a conceptual project by Ukrainian artists Sofiia Atlantova and Olexsandr Klymenko launched in 2014. The icons are painted on fragments from ammunition boxes from the war zones in Ukraine and serve as silent war witnesses as well as symbols of the victory of life over death.
You can read more about the projects and about the icons in this leaflet.
You can find out more about the context in which the icons are created by watching this short video.
About the artists
SOFIIA ATLANTOVA (b.1981) lives and works in Kyiv, Ukraine. A graduate of the National Academy of Fine Arts and Architecture, she works in the field of monumental and easel painting, book graphics, and installations. She has participated in exhibitions in Ukraine and abroad. Her books were included in short and long lists of several literary awards in Ukraine and abroad, in particular 'BBC Book of the Year'.
OLEKSANDR KLYMENKO (b.1976) lives and works in Kyiv, Ukraine. A graduate of the National Academy of Fine rts and Architecture, the Institute of Art History, FOlklore and Ethnology, and the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, he has taight at the Kyiv State Institute of Decorative Arts and Design and a the Higher Humanitarian Theological Courses (Kyiv). He has participated in exhibitions in Ukraine and abroad, organized by a number of literary and artisttic events and performances. He is the author of the concept and one of the curators of the Icons on Ammunition Boxes.
Responding
We hope that those who visit the exhibition may wish to respond in any of three ways.
PRAY
Please continue to pray for all those caught up in the world's conflicts. You can light a candle, or leave a prayer on the prayer tree, or spend some time in church praying for peace.
REFLECT
The icons are very striking, and the material from which they are made brings close to us the reality of war and its human impact. You may wish to write down your thoughts after viewing the icons and share them with us - there are postcards available for you to do this.
DONATE
Donations are invited, for the charitable work in Ukraine to support those most affected by the war, and in particular people associated with the University in Mariupol who have lost their homes. You can donate in cash or by card in church or via the QR code on this page.
Icons are also for sale; the sale proceeds are divided between the artists and the charitable causes that the project supports.