His first protest painting was a girl in blue and yellow clothes with bombs falling on her. Above, he wrote in capital letters “stop”.
– The police said that that painting discredits the Russian army, Ovtchinnikov told Reuters.
He was fined the equivalent of SEK 5,500 and the “girl” was painted over. Despite this, Vladimir Ovtchinnikov continued to paint on the walls around Borovsk – a town of 12,000 inhabitants. All his paintings disappear from the streets.
The 84-year-old painter’s family were victims of repression during the Soviet era. His grandfather was shot dead by the Bolsheviks in 1919 and his father was a political prisoner in 1937.
– Political repression, trying to erase the historical memory – it’s the same as what is happening in Ukraine now, says Ovtchinnikov.
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