Creativity for a good cause: Ava started working on the illustration in late April after an ‘extremely inspiring’ meeting with Ukraine’s ambassador to Singapore. — The Straits Times/ANN
WHEN Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed delegates virtually at the Shangri-La Dialogue recently, his choice of attire – and the Singaporean girl behind it – became an unexpected talking point of his speech.
The black T-shirt bearing an illustration of a girl spray-painting the blue and yellow colours of the Ukraine flag had been passed to Zelenskyy along with a handwritten letter from its Singaporean creator, 16-year-old Ava Soh.
Speaking to 575 delegates from 40 countries at Asia’s top security summit last Saturday, Zelenskyy said: “She wrote me a letter asking to support her initiative called Spray Paint Ukraine – an initiative aiming to help Ukraine.”
His sartorial choice came as a shock to Ava, who said she sent the T-shirt to the president via the Ukrainian embassy in Singapore only a week ago.
“It was very unexpected for me,” said the Secondary Four student at St Joseph’s Institution International.
“I know he is going through something very important right now, so him wearing this girl’s shirt was probably not a top priority,” she said with reference to the ongoing war in Ukraine.
She said she wrote to Zelenskyy with a request that he wear the T-shirt in a photo or video clip with little expectation that he would fulfil the request, let alone wear it “at such a big event” as the dialogue.
Ava, who started her Daughters Of The Revolution (Dotr, pronounced “daughter”) brand when she was 14, said she started working on the illustration in April after an “extremely inspiring” meeting with Ukraine’s ambassador to Singapore, Kateryna Zelenko.
“I thought I should help people as it’s what I’ve always been taught. I did the Ukrainian rendition of the flag to promote self-belief, confidence and as a commentary that women too can build the country.”
Spray Paint Ukraine is being sold online as a “wearable non-fungible token (NFT)”, or T-shirts with the NFT printed on it, to raise funds for Ukraine. Sales proceeds will be donated to the Ukrainian Embassy in Singapore.
There are 1,000 pieces of the “wearable NFTs” for sale and Ava said she would like for the proceeds to go to the women and children displaced by the war.
But the teenager, who said there may be more Ukraine-themed NFTs in the mix, will leave the choice of beneficiaries to the discretion of the Ukrainian embassy.
“Of all the times, Ukraine needs it now,” she said. — The Strait Times/ANN
