In Barberia and Mykhailo Reva: a collection for peace
“Epiphany Now” is an important project in which several people around the In Barberia world are participating, and we want to thank them for their support.
The idea of bringing a sculpture representing our art first came in New York, thanks to the intuition of our friend and business partner Jaykos, a fashion visionary.
After several chats in Venice over an excellent pasta and a good Prosecco in the Al Colombo restaurant, the project began to take shape and there were the first sketches.
Thanks to Domenico Stanziani, owner of the restaurant as well as our friend, we met Alex Sino, who will become an important supporting figure in our project.
Alex Sino is a prominent figure in the world of music but also in politics, very close and attentive to the art world, he wanted to finance the project and put us in touch with Mykhailo Reva.
In Barberia therefore teams up with Ukrainian artist Mykhailo Reva to create a project that combines fashion and art, with a message of deep sensitivity and social commitment.
Mykhailo Reva, a sculptor renowned at his home country and internationally, has dedicated his art over the past two years to giving voice to the tragic events of the war in Ukraine.
Through his poetic vision, Reva transforms objects scarred by the conflict into powerful visual metaphors.
Fragments of destroyed military equipment, weapons and the remains of missiles become elements of reflection on violence and suffering.
Mykhailo Reva, sculptor: "The main thing for me right now is to be useful. Therefore, I began to look for ways to work in the field of cultural diplomacy and through my works to convey information about the war in Ukraine to the world, to prevent Europeans from getting used to war, to make them allies of the Ukrainian people not in words, but in deeds. For creative people, cataclysms are a kind of catharsis. I went to Bucha immediately after her release, watched, thought about how to find a figurative language to tell about what I saw. Already when I was returning home, I found out about the missile attack on Karolina-Bugaz, a Russian missile fell ⁓100 m from our dacha, we always called it the "territory of love". With our neighbors, we collected fragments of the rocket, and even in these fragments, one could feel the boundless energy of death, which was accumulated by a person in order to take life."
The artwork "Epiphany Now" was constructed with these rocket fragments.
It represents In Barberia's "The Bond", model on whose frame are fixed hundreds of copper bullets.
Exploded bullets were also utilized, turning them into beautiful metal flowers, as an Easter celebration of the defeat of death and the hope of salvation.
The letters "XB" (in the Cyrillic alphabet it reads "KhV") formed by the shape of the glasses, signify "Khrystos Voskres" - Christ is risen again. It is a popular religious expression among Slavic peoples, symbolizing Orthodox Easter, which stands for peace and love.
The sculpture was exhibited in Dumska Square over the Easter period and will later be displayed at the Venice Biennale 2024.
The Limited Edition collection of glasses designed by In Barberia in collaboration with Reva, will be made of the metal originally made for bullets.
The models will represent the miniature sculpture "Epiphany Now" and will be available soon.
A project that transforms symbols of violence into objects of beauty and meaning, a memorial against the horror of war and a tribute to the resilience of the Ukrainian people.
The initiative represents a concrete example of how fashion and art can come together to promote values of peace and solidarity, a message of hope that takes shape through creativity and ingenuity, fueling the desire for a future free of war.
