Ukrainian art curator describes tense journey fleeing country

Curator loaded car with artwork in escape from Ukraine

NEW YORK -- A Ukrainian art curator is talking about her escape from the war to bring her country's work to one of the biggest shows in the world.

Maria Lanko was in a Chelsea gallery Wednesday, describing her tense journey in March to the Venice Biennale.

As Russian bombs fell near Kyiv, Lanko loaded boxes containing the artwork into her car and headed to the border with Romania. The usual one-day drive took six days along backroads.

"We also couldn't take any highways because they were shelled from the first day," Lanko saiad. "I slept in some kind of really cold houses that we could find, you know, just on the way, just empty old houses. And inside was around zero Celsius."

That's 32 degrees Fahrenheit.

Lanko is working to raise funds to support Ukrainian artists and cultural institutions.

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