Le Vanvere is a group of six italian professional illustrators: Arianna Bellucci, Camilla Garofano, Celina Elmi, Giulia Lombardo, Giulia Quagli and Lisa Gelli.
Since it was born in 2014, the group's mission has been to promote and share illustrations and illustrators. Through the blog, social media, exhibitions, and events, Le Vanvere wants to create a connection between artists and the audience.
@ photo Le Vanvere
During the Ludicomix in Empoli, Le Vanvere set up their most significant event: an enormous Illustration festival with multiple exhibitions around the city, counting over a hundred unpublished artworks every year.
We all felt powerless from the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. We soon realized that we were following many Ukrainian illustrators on social media. Thanks to one of these illustrators, we discovered Pictoric. We immediately started to search for a place to set up the exhibition of War Posters, as we believed it was our duty to help and support the Ukrainian people and our colleagues.
Last but not least important, we saw Pictoric social feed, so similar to our page, dramatically changing the subject from illustration to war news as the day passed. It was heartbreaking, and we were so shocked.
We received a lot of positive feedback and sharing from people and colleagues. Many people came to the exhibitions, mainly to the one in Florence (which naturally has a broader audience). Some of our colleague illustrators returned several times during the week to see the exhibition again!
We soon realized during the week of the exhibition that the artworks that stirred more emotions in public were the ones more intimate: families with children and animals escaping or taking cover, for example.
The media always show the big picture of the war and the great tragedies it brings, but most of the time, it seems distant from us, from our lives. So, seeing these illustrated life stories, small events but truly close to everyone's daily life, was a shock for many visitors.
The quality level of Ukrainian illustrations is incredible. We have been setting up exhibitions for seven years, and we can say that it's not easy to find so many beautiful artworks in one show.
While we were setting up the exhibition, we also noticed that we had already met one of the War Posters' illustrators, Tania Yakunova, who was selected for our exhibitions years ago. So, we confirm that we have always loved Ukrainian illustrators!