Why Are Sunflowers
Ukraine’s National Flower?Sunflowers are spectacular and are a major agricultural export of Ukraine. During festivals and celebrations, sunflowers are often woven into clothes or worn as headdresses.
Back in June 1996, US, Russian and Ukrainian defence ministers planted sunflowers in a ceremony at Ukraine's Pervomaysk missile base to mark Ukraine voluntarily giving up its nuclear weapons.
Today, the sunflower has become a powerful symbol of the Ukrainian people’s resistance to the Russian invasion.
Sunflowers symbolise hope for the future. Germinating seeds cover the ground each spring, before the flowers in bloom trace the sun’s movement from East to West each day. Like the Ukrainian people, these flowers face the rising sun of each new day, full of life. We hope that soon they will bloom again in a peaceful, free and independent Ukraine.
OLGA KRAVCHENKO
Olga Kravchenko is an immersive storyteller and is the founder of Musemio, Even though SunflowAR is not designed for children, Olga has used the same methods she uses for Musemio’s games-based-learning development - using creative metaphors and empathy as embedded key messages to educate people about difficult topics. Olga is based in the UK and was recently joined by her mother and grandma, who fled their hometown after spending weeks underground.
OLEKSANDR IVANYTSKIY
Oleksandr Ivanytskiy, the CTO of Musemio, woke up to the sound of sirens in Kyiv. At 5 AM, when the news about the invasion reached him, it was already too late as the traffic and fuel shortages prevented him from fleeing his hometown. In the first few weeks of the war, Alex combined his work as tech leader with the duty of protecting and patrolling his local streets for another six hours daily. During the development of SunflowAR, Alex regularly had to hide in a bomb shelter as sirens sounded terrifying warnings all around.
VASYL BARANNYK
Musemio’s Lead 3D modeler, Vasyl Barannyk has remained as calm as possible during an impossible situation from his home in Dnipro. That was until one of the missiles landed 500 metres from his house. The windows and walls trembled; thankfully there were no visible damage. Vasyl triedto join territorial defence in the early weeks; however, at the time it was oversubscribed. He has channeled his creativity for this project and for Musemio.
IGOR FEDOROVSKIY
Igor Fedorovskiy, faced the horrors of the war in Kharkiv. For the first two weeks of the war, we had almost no connection with our VR Developer as Kharkiv was heavily shelled. The team received brief messages about him and his family. After a month in Kharkiv, Igor managed to flee to a safer region in Ukraine. Even though fighter jets sometimes passed his house and his internet connection dropped regularly, he still managed to dedicate his 150% to the project.
ANNA TISEYKO
Anna Tiseyko, based in Barcelona, has led the Shadow Theatre and character design throughout the project. Her family refused to flee Ukraine, leaving her in a position of constant fear for their lives. Throughout the war, Anya put all her anguish into her creativity, some of which you can see on the website. She has actively volunteered with the Red Cross and raised money for charity by live drawing Ukrainian motifs in Barcelona’s main square.
