The bronze sculpture is 260 cm high and 420 cm long. “Hope” was produced in Kyiv by Sergei Sviatchenko and Ukrainian sculptor Egor Zigura and transported to Denmark.
"Hope” is a dove which, in its dynamics and rhythm, moves with a peaceful leaf in its beak. It is a symbol of the future that we will all be a part of. And this is exactly how I draw it at the beginning of March 2022 after a month of war and my shock at what happened in Ukraine”, says Sergei Sviatchenko, an internationally recognized artist, who settled and has lived in Denmark for 34 years, but was born in Kharkiv, Ukraine.
The artwork was unveiled on Friday, June 28, 2024 at a public event in the Sculpture Park. A number of official guests spoke at the unveiling event, including the Ukrainian ambassador to Denmark, Andriij Yanevskyij and Viborg's bishop, Henrik Stubkjær, as well as a representative from the European External Action Service, Brussels.
Alongside the sculpture project, Sviatchenko has created another collage work as a print on aluminum with the title "Kharkiv. Riders of Hope" which is also on show at the unveiling of HOPE, where it is temporarily set up. Here he interprets Picasso's famous work “Guernica” from 1937. He transfers the historical war tragedy in the Spanish city to Ukrainian Kharkiv.
In his video address dedicated to the sculpture unveiling, Ambassador Ole Egberg Mikkelsen shares his impressions about his own recent visit to Kharkiv.
“The sculpture and the collage that are being unveiled today are about hope. It is also about the city of Kharkiv, a European metropolis, Ukraine’s second city that’s just two hours by plane from Denmark and is just 30 kilometres from the frontline. I was there just weeks ago. The city is under relentless Russian attacks. (…) I was deeply impressed by the resilience of the inhabitants. I was there on a sunny Saturday, and as the anti-aircraft systems were working, people were shopping in the construction malls (…). They were buying plywood for boarding off windows that had been blasted by the shock waves and they were buying seed and flowers for their gardens. I am confident that Ukraine will prevail in this epic battle that is unfolding right as I speak”.
