Kharkiv (2022)
$75,000 Acrylic on canvas

66" x 148"

Part of the artist's "Immigration Series," a series of 11 paintings
in conversation around mass movements of people across the
globe separate from a U.S. context, Burrows created this painting
as a tribute to all who are forced to leave their homes due to war.;

War broke out in Ukraine after Burrows had created 8 of the Immigration Series paintings, and he
reflected on the afct that he had not fully considered people moving due to war until then. In
particular, Burrows was struck by the students fleeing the city of Kharkiv, hence the title of the piece.

Stylistically, the piece includes nods to Picasso, and many references to stories and experiences
Burrows has collected. Years ago in London, Burrows spoke with a man on the subway who told him
that he used to come down to the subway during the war. Burrows asked,

"what war?" to which the
man answered the second World War. The man continued to share that because of the bombing he
had lost all of his clothes as a child. Burrows was struck by the fact that the man, as a child,
remembered losing his clothes, not the bombing itself.

When Burrows recently saw an image of a child holding a rabbit stuffed animal, he recalled this
man's story -- the rabbit stuffed animal was what was most impostant to the child at that moment of
chaos, just like the man from London was most concerned with his clothes. This is why we see bunny
ears in the center of Burrows's painting.