Marco Photo Artist Gives to Ukraine

It shouldn’t be surprising that Marco Island’s Mila Bridger has found creative ways to give to her former neighbors in Ukraine. Bridger, known for her outstanding photographic art, has created signed and numbered posters she is selling to help support a Ukrainian family who fled their home in Ukraine for Ireland.

It's actually the second great idea Bridger’s spawned to help the people of Ukraine. Her first idea was to help Ukrainians by renting houses on Airbnb. Her social media post about it went viral. 

“The very first day that the war started I went and I bought a bunch of Airbnb’s to help the Ukraine,” Mila Bridger said Saturday from her Marco Island home. "We got two weekends in Kyiv and another in Kharkiv. I also booked an experience. Airbnb saw the multiple reservations and asked if I knew I was staying at all of these different locations during this weekend. I explained what I was doing and they dropped their fees, so they got to keep all of the money. I emailed each one of the Airbnb’s and told them I wasn’t coming. I told them I just wanted them to keep the money, take the money and go and escape. Save yourself from the war.”

The feedback Bridger received was amazing to her. She was approached by local television stations for interviews.

"The next morning, I went to the hairdresser and it already went viral,” Bridger said. "Everyone shared it on Facebook. At the hair salon a few people came over and talked to me. They went home and booked their own stays. Maybe I should have said yes to the local news stations. They were going crazy. They were all calling me. I said I didn’t want to talk about it. It wasn’t about me.”

Bridger had no idea she was going to create a stir with her post.

"I posted as an impulse,” Bridger said. "People picked it up and started sharing it everywhere. That’s why the media started calling. I told them we need to focus, we need to talk about the Ukraine war. We need to keep talking about it. If we don’t, Putin’s going to win. We need to keep reminding people about it. So that was my thing." 

Bridger has family back in Poland.

"For me,” Bridger said, “still having family and friends in Poland, everybody is talking about it. We bought the rooms just to support them, to get them some money so they could run away. I let them know I’m not coming, but I wanted them to keep the money. It was chaos at the beginning. It was crazy. A lot of Ukraine’s just fled. They went straight to Poland, straight to Romania. In Poland right now there are 3.5 million Ukrainians. It’s quite overwhelming. We were like, ‘What can we do?’ My girlfriend said ‘Don’t come yet. Don’t come over.' We were just donating money. I’m not in touch with anybody right now. I don’t get any answers. I don’t know what’s happening. 

The motivation for Bridger’s artwork comes in the form of a Ukrainian family of four who she met in Ireland with her husband Ryan Darling.

"We were in Ireland a month ago and we were standing in the train station,” Bridger recalls, "and there was this family of four standing there. Looking at the same map. They were talking to each other. They looked back and said, ‘Is this the platform for Dalkey?'”

“They were from Ukraine,” Bridger said. “The next 30 minutes on the train was so emotional. I sat with her and her two kids, and Ryan sat with him. We were just like hands on…what can we do? What do you need? Just tell us. He was looking for a job. They were living in Mykolaiv. That city is just bombed right now. They had to leave their parents because they couldn’t walk. He was lucky to get out. The little boy had surgery so they let the dad go with the family. Otherwise, they kept all of the males.”

"Because they know English, they went to Ireland,” Bridger continued. “They went through Romania and Moldova. There were times when they walked 15 kilometers at a time. This guy is a marketing guru. His resume is amazing. But he can’t find a job. He really wants to find a job to support his family.”

Bridger set into action to raise money for the family, using her art talent. So far, she’s been able to pay two months’ rent for the Ukrainian family. She hopes to do more.

"I talked to my art coach,” Bridger said. "We decided to come up with two images and sell them as posters. If anybody wants a nice poster, just buy a poster. I’m sending all of the money to them.”

“I have a whole series called Mermaid Trips,” she said of her posters. "They’re at the HW Gallery in Naples. They are representing that series. They’re absolutely limited.”

HW Gallery describes Mila’s work thusly: “Renowned both locally and internationally for fantastical portraits that feature thoughtfully stylized, saturated settings that evince a high degree of kinetic energy and unmissable expressionist flair.”

"I just created one,” Bridger said. “Later they decided to add a second image.”

 “We agreed it would be an issue of 500. They’re 16" by 20" and 16" by 24,” Bridger said. “They’re $150. And they’re real quality prints. They’re printed in Germany. They are all about quality. They come with a letter of authenticity. They’re signed and numbered.”

Bridger’s original goal was to raise three months of rent for the Ukrainian family. 

"We were thinking three months of rent,” Bridger said. "Just to give them some peace of mind. They’re just dumped in this strange country with no work. There’s so many people who need help. So far, we’ve raised $2,000 selling posters.”

Posters can be ordered at milabridger.com "There’s a huge button that says Help Ukraine,” Bridger said. "You can pay with PayPal. So, it’s easy to document."  

"My part is I’m not keeping anything,” Bridger said. "Of the $150, I’m not taking anything from the sale. I’m not deducting the printing and shipping.”

"I really feel genuinely about this family,” Bridger said. "We talk to them. We spent time with them. Our hearts are with them. We want them to have their normal life like they had before. She told me on the train. 'To lose a house is one thing but losing a whole life'...they literally could take only one suitcase and leave. You can’t come back. You only have one thing to take with you."