AIC's 53rd Annual Meeting

Russia’s invasion in February of 2022 of Ukraine dramatically altered the cultural as well as the physical landscape. Numerous Ukrainian conservators scrambled to protect their cultural heritage, while others left the country as refugees. Western conservators and conservation scientists, conservation organizations, non-profits, and foundations responded to this event with fruitful initiatives to assist in these preservation efforts and to prevent a now well-documented existential threat to Ukrainian culture. This presentation will focus on the collaborative efforts of Ukrainian conservators, conservation educators and scientists, art historians, translators, university faculty members, historic preservationists, and their peers and concerned parties outside of Ukraine. The perspective will be of an AIC Wooden Artifacts conservator, Fulbright Specialist, and Scholar to Ukraine before the war. It will illuminate the will and determination of Ukrainians to acquire and implement the conservation knowledge and values of the West under challenging circumstances.