One East Village family's protest against the Russian invasion of Ukraine

At the request of his daughter Marinda, longtime East Village-based artist Anton van Dalen created a protest sign for her to carry during a rally in support of Ukraine in Times Square last Saturday. 

Given his migratory history (he has long kept snow-white pigeons on his roof ), Marinda suggested that he paint a Peace Pigeon. (His Avenue A home has also long featured the words P E A C E written in abstracted geometric black lettering out front.)

And later...

And now, a family friend has put the "Peace Pigeon" on T-shirts for sale online. About $8 from each sale will be donated to Voices of Children, an organization in Ukraine working to help families in this time of crisis. 

You can find the T-shirts online here. 

Said Anton in an email:

"When we in 1971 arrived in this East Village neighborhood it was still a vital immigrant population. Its larger mix was of Ukrainian, Polish and Italian heritage, their cultures so shared with us. Now those populations are slowly fading away and their children have moved on. Their restaurants, spoken languages, music, and beautiful colored flags have largely fallen silent. But their cultural contribution live on in us all, and our neighborhood history to remember," he wrote. "Now I am pleased to honor Ukraine's national flag colors as their Peace Dove." 

 Top two photos by Marinda van Dalen