Local Ukrainian group fighting to keep murals of slain woman out of Chicago

Weeks after a mural of a slain Ukrainian refugee https://chicago.suntimes.com/news/2... appeared in a West Side neighborhood, a local Ukrainian group is fighting to prevent a second mural from going up.

Members of the Illinois chapter of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America (UCCA) received word from Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36th) that a constituent had made a request to paint a mural somewhere in the North Center neighborhood. It was not immediately clear if the proposed mural was linked to the North Center artwork of Iryna Zarutska. Villegas’ office didn’t provide a comment.

Zarutska, 23, was fatally stabbed last summer while riding a train home from work in Charlotte, North Carolina. Republicans, including President Donald Trump, have blamed Democrats for the stabbing because the man charged in the stabbing was in and out of jail several times in the last decade.

Mariya Dmytriv-Kapeniak, president of the UCCA's Illinois chapter, said she was outraged when she learned of the request for a new mural. She said she’s connected to Zarutska’s community in Charlotte, North Carolina, and that no one contacted Zarutska’s family before using her photo for the mural. The UCCA played a role in the Ukrainian Village being designated a cultural district in Illinois, and works to support cultural, educational and humanitarian activities in the area.

“If someone really cares about war refugees, there’s a lot of work you can do to help them, other than to paint a mural without family’s permission and just sign a poor girl’s name on it,” Dmytriv-Kapeniak said.

Zoryana Smozhanyk, president and co-founder of the Ukrainian Daughters Foundation, also was opposed to the mural.

“I think this is a wonderful way to encompass the current administration's relationship towards Ukraine as a whole, where you have individuals spotlighting something terrible, twisting it completely out of context, and then trying to profit off of it,” Smozhanyk said.

Since her death, murals of Zarutska have appeared in Los Angeles, New York, Miami and Washington, D.C. The artwork is part of a campaign backed by Elon Musk and launched by Eoghan McCabe, CEO of artificial intelligence service Intercom. Musk and McCabe could not be reached for comment.

McCabe's post of the Chicago mural says it was painted by an artist known as Sav45. The artist didn’t respond to an interview request

Dmytriv-Kapeniak said she is working with lawyers to explore if the Illinois Right of Publicity Act, which prohibits the use of artificial intelligence to recreate a person’s voice, image or likeness for commercial purposes, can be applied to prevent more murals from appearing.

But Chicago lawyers agree that, thanks to First Amendment protections, the fight would be difficult, if not outright impossible, to win.

“Looking at it purely from a perspective of the Illinois Right of Publicity Act, I just don’t see a basis for a cause of action,” said Brendan Healey, a partner at downtown firm Baron Harris Healey.

Healey has worked on several cases involving the Illinois Right of Publicity Act. He said that, while he sympathizes with people who are upset about the image, the murals are protected, expressive content.

“Even though some people may be angry or upset about this image, that’s kind of the nature of protected speech, it often makes people angry or upset,” Healey said.

Tom Hanson, an attorney at Loevy and Loevy, a civil rights firm based in Chicago, said outside of the Right of Publicity Act, there may be common law and statutory privacy protections that could stop the unauthorized use of an individual’s name, likeness, or image.

In this case, where members of the general public are raising concerns, he said it is questionable if these privacy rights could be used to stop the creation of the mural.

In the days since, the committee has drafted a letter to the Ald. Villegas, Mayor Brandon Johnson and Gov. J.B. Pritzker. They also intend to schedule a meeting with Villegas to express their concern and prevent the creation of another mural in Ukrainian Village.

At this time the UCCA is not planning any legal actions and continues to explore the issue with civil rights attorneys.

"This is definitely a tragedy, what happened, but again, that should not be used for anyone's political gain," Dmytriv-Kapeniak said.