Internet is outraged by victory of russian artist in illustration contest with work about Ukrainian refugees

russian Anna Khokhlova won the Global Healthcare Illustration Awards 2022 competition held by the British Association of Illustrators AOI. Ukrainians were outraged by her win and, in fact, by the work that brought Khokhlova victory.

She submitted to the competition a picture entitled "A case of sound pollution" about the post-traumatic reaction of Ukrainian refugees to loud sounds. In it, a woman on the street is afraid of fireworks, and lets go of her dog's leash.

Journalist and children's writer Olha Rusina drew attention to Khokhlova's victory with her work about Ukrainians.

"A famous international illustration contest awarded a russian woman for drawing how Ukrainians were traumatized by the war… there are simply no words," she wrote on Twitter and called on users to leave comments to the contest organizers.

The award website reports that Anna Khokhlova supports Ukrainian refugees and intends to donate the prize to one of the charitable foundations that support them.

"This project was created in response to reports from witnesses that Ukrainian refugees experience post-traumatic reactions to loud sounds that remind them of air raids. The jury granted this award for how well this illustration corresponds to a specific situation," the award website says about the work.

In the comments on Twitter, Ukrainians are outraged by the victory of the russian artist. In particular, Ukrainian illustrators join the discussion.

They point out that "all this time, russian illustrators had the opportunity to create and develop their skills while we were sitting in bomb shelters."

"I am a Ukrainian illustrator and a mother of three children, and we managed to escape from the occupation in Bucha on the last day when it was possible," writes another Ukrainian woman.

In addition, Ukrainians are convinced that the russian Khokhlova "stole someone else's trauma."

Ukrainians also mention in the comments the death on the battlefield of game designer and cyber sportsman Volodymyr Yezhov, who worked on the creation of the game S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky. "While talented Ukrainians die from bullets, you reward russians," the commentators write.