KUALA LUMPUR: When President Volodymyr Zelensky broke from his usual olive-green attire during a Shangri-La Dialogue address last month, the first thing he spoke about was his outfit: A T-shirt designed by a Singaporean teenager to support Ukraine against Russia’s invasion.
The black shirt featured a drawing of a girl standing on a ladder, spray painting the blue and yellow colors of the Ukrainian flag.
The illustration was designed by Ava Soh, a 16-year-old Singaporean artist and activist who came up with the idea in late March, weeks after Russia launched its multi-pronged attack on Ukrainian territory.
Soh created an NFT (non-fungible token) design which she initially used in her Spray Paint Ukraine fundraiser for Ukrainian women and children.
To promote it, she approached the Ukrainian embassy in Singapore and took the courage of asking Zelensky to wear it.
“She wrote me a letter asking to support her initiative,” Zelensky told the audience in his virtual address on June 11. “This request from this girl, her idea, her confidence that the president of Ukraine will really respond to her initiative and that I will be willing to help is of crucial importance. And I’m wearing this T-shirt today.”
As he pointed to the picture, he said it could be “helpful in explaining why Ukraine has garnered so much support worldwide.”
“Can you imagine, for instance, (the) president of Russia responding to such an initiative? … I think that this is impossible.”
It came as a complete surprise to Soh that Zelensky not only responded to her request but also spoke about it at the annual security forum hosted by Singapore.
“I saw him wearing the T-shirt, I was like ‘oh my God!’ I never thought it would come true,” Soh told Arab News. “He built that speech around the idea that you should support these ideas and projects, and that made me feel very touched. I was crying.”
Ava Soh, a 16-year-old Singaporean artist and activist who created an NFT design for her fundraiser for Ukraine speaks to Arab News on July 19, 2022. (AN Photo)
She has been engaged in social causes since the age 13, when she launched her Daughters of The Revolution fashion brand, which “aims to empower the next generation of 21st-century heroines through self-belief.”
“Self-belief is the biggest middle finger to oppression,” Soh said. “I’ve always been interested with gender equality and social problems, my parents brought me up to believe that it is not what job do I want to get, but what problem do I want to solve.”
And one of the problems is for her the ongoing war.
“Maybe it is the child in me, children just think that war doesn’t make sense, we are just like ‘can you all just talk it out with each other? Is it really necessary to kill people?’”
The idea for her illustration was partly inspired by Banksy, one of the world’s favorite street artist-provocateurs, known for his anti-authoritarian work.
“I wanted it to be spray painting because I took some of the inspiration from Banksy, and I like the fact that so much could be said without so many words,” Soh added. “I want it to show female empowerment. It’s because I wanted to shine the spotlight on the women that are involved.”
She hopes her experience will not only help spread the message, but also be a source of support for others.
“More than anything this experience has shown me that you can dream big, you can be ambitious, and things will come true,” she said. “I hope my story can bring some inspiration to others.”
