УКRАЇNKИ

The historical and artistic project УКRАЇNKИ is an exhibition dedicated to the global Ukrainian women organized on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Ukrainian National Women’s League of America (UNWLA).
The exhibition presents the centennial history of the Ukrainian National Women’s League of America and a collection of artworks by Ukrainian-American artists recently donated to Museum of Ukrainian Diaspora (a branch of the Museum of the History of the City of Kyiv) with the assistance of the UNWLA.
The historical section of the exhibition features rare archival photographs and printed materials that document the activities of the Ukrainian National Women’s League of America aimed at supporting Ukraine and preserving national identity and cultural heritage in exile.
The art section of the exhibition includes paintings, drawings, and sculptures by sixteen Ukrainian-American artists of different generations. The oldest generation is represented by artists who received their professional training in Ukraine before World War II: Kateryna Krychevska-Rosandich, Liudmyla Morozova, and Irene Banach-Twerdochlib. Works by Lydia Bodnar-Balahutrak, Adrianna Henkels, Marta Hirniak Voyevidka, Nina Klymowska, Christina Kudryk, Lydia Piaseckyj, Ilona Sochynsky, and Christina Saj represent the creative pursuits of the artists who were creatively formed in exile during the 1950s–1980s, but received Ukrainian upbringing in their families and the diaspora environment. The younger generation of Ukrainian-American artists is represented by Yulia Pinkusevich and Yulia Gasio.
According to the curator of the exhibition Oksana Pidsukha: “Despite their isolation from their historical homeland and different personal experiences, the artists’ works radiate a profound sense of Ukrainianness: in the choice of themes, their use of folk crafts and national symbols, their research into Byzantine iconography, or their echoes of traditional color plasticity. The symbolic focus of the exhibition is the motanka sculptures by Ola Rondiak, an artist who was born in the United States but returned to her ancestral homeland after the restoration of Ukrainian independence”.
“The УКRАЇNKИ project is dedicated to several generations of Ukrainian-American women who maintain ties with their homeland and make a significant contribution to the struggle for its independence and is sign of support for Ukraine by the Ukrainian National Women’s League of America”, Hanna Leksina, head of Museum of Ukrainian Diaspora, says.

Exhibition organizers: Ukrainian National Women’s League of America, Museum of Ukrainian Diaspora, Museum of the History of the City of Kyiv.
Supported by the International Charitable Foundation of Ukrainians worldwide “Diaspora”.
Information partner of the exhibition: online media “Ukrainky”.

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