Window to the world

What does a manor house in the middle of Northwest Mecklenburg have to do with #StandwithUkrainianWomen? Apparently, quite a lot.

Our "Together for Democracy" network has a new hub: On August 3, 2022, EAF Chair Helga Lukoschat accompanied by our Ukrainian project partner Yuliia Siedaia and other EAF colleagues, visited Helene Weber Prize winner Miro Zahra at her workplace, the Schloss Plüschow artists' house.

International meeting place for artists

In addition to her commitment to art and artists, the qualified graphic designer, artist, and curator is also active in the Northwest Mecklenburg district council. Miro Zahra is deputy chair of the six-member Alliance 90/The Greens parliamentary group. In 2020, she received the award for local female politicians with outstanding achievements, organized by the EAF and funded by the BMFSFJ, for her political commitment. Miro Zahra is the heart and mind of Schloss Plüschow. She built it up with her husband in the early nineties and now manages it as well. The renovated manor house, located between Wismar and Lübeck, is now a renowned exhibition and workspace, a meeting place for artists from all over the world.

Practical solidarity

Currently, a scholarship holder from Ukraine is living and working in one of the guest studios. 32-year-old Daria Gabruk comes from Zhytomyr in northern Ukraine, not far from the border with Belarus. She has been invited to Plüschow for four weeks to recover a little from the stress of the war and to process her experiences and fears through art. She quickly begins to share her story, using her paintings to describe her life and work back home and how the war has changed her outer and inner world. Two young Ukrainian musicians are also visiting the manor today. They have been staying in a nearby town since the spring and hope to be able to continue their artistic training in Germany. Miro Zahra supports them as much as she can and is planning a concert with them featuring Ukrainian, German, and Czech folk songs. The Czech-born artist performs one of her favorite songs together with the two violinists. A serenade for the guests on the manor's veranda.

"Only art can save the world"

Miro Zahra has a special passion for supporting female artists. At Plüschow, she creates work opportunities and visibility for them. And the manor in the Mecklenburg countryside opens all its windows to the world. Artists from everywhere, many with international reputations, have worked and exhibited here in recent years. The current exhibition "Push & Pull - Territories between Land and Sea," which runs until August 21, aims to establish a contemporary connection to the themes of displacement, flight, and migration. A Ukrainian artist is also represented here. "Only art can save the world" was the subtitle of the "Resource Art" exhibition a few years ago. Yet behind this ironic claim lies Zahra's firm conviction that while art may not offer concrete solutions to the world's problems, conflicts, and catastrophes, it can provide a "platform for exchange and the development of new ideas." This is what Miro Zahra and her manor house stand for.