LETTERS IN THE CITY
This exhibition project aims to promote Ukrainian culture through the art of graphic and typographic design.
The display features a selection of posters that incorporate texts by Ukrainian writers from different historical periods—from literary classics to contemporary voices. The quoted authors are direct participants in the historical process: some helped shape Ukrainian cultural identity in the past, while others are defending it today—on the front lines.
These posters are visual manifestos that combine the power of graphic and typographic art with the emotional depth of language. Together, they reflect a wide spectrum of societal feeling in times of war: exhaustion and rage, hope and love, dignity and resilience.
The exhibition is not only a space for empathy, but also for (re)thinking the Ukrainian word as a tool of memory, cultural resistance, and connection.
BIOGRAPHY
OdesaCityLetters is an online museum dedicated to the typographic heritage of Odesa, founded in 2019. The initiative researches, collects, and digitizes street signs, shopfront lettering, cultural event posters, wayfinding elements, and other manifestations of the city’s visual language that have shaped its identity over the past two centuries.
The museum’s team retrieves inscriptions that have already disappeared from the city’s public space—from archives, old photographs, and private collections—and restores them in digital format, preserving a valuable layer of Odesa’s urban and cultural landscape.
Following the start of russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the team felt a need for a new form of action. This led to the creation of a charitable poster bureau—a response to the challenges of the time and a tool of visual resistance. Inspired by Ukrainian graphic art, typography, and the resilience of national spirit, the bureau’s work now circulates across continents. The posters are used at rallies and charity events in support of Ukraine, added to international museum collections, and exhibited in numerous art spaces.
The bureau’s mission is to introduce people both in Ukraine and abroad to Ukrainian culture—particularly its literary legacy. Ukraine and Ukrainians have become known to the world, in part, for their bravery and resilience. Still, both the international community and, at times, Ukrainians themselves lack a clear understanding that our history, culture, and values are not only distinct from russian ones—they are fundamentally opposed.