“Petrykivka is the soul of Ukraine”

An exhibit of six crafters who create the brand of modern cultural heritage of Ukrainians has been opened at the National Architecture-Historical Preserve “Ancient Chernihiv.” The exposition shows paintings on canvas, painted towels, plates, and practical items decorated with Petrykivka painting. Chernihiv is the first city in Ukraine where the exhibit called “Petrykivka is the soul of Ukraine” has been brought.

Curator of the project Nina Burnevych notes that before Chernihiv the artists visited Georgia with their works. Our crafters didn’t idle there: they decorated the educational college in Batumi as a souvenir of Ukraine.

“This exhibit is unique, because apart from traditional pictures of birds, animals, and people (which is traditional for Petrykivka painters), modern themes are revealed in the works of separate crafters,” Nina Burnevych says, “For example, Lviv craftswoman Natalia Maliarchuk dedicated some of her works to Maidan events, in particular, she decorated plastic hard hats, which are the symbol of Maidan, with Petrykivka painting. Some works are dedicated to the war in the Donbas. The crafters depict their inner state, keeping to the traditional style.”

Some pictures by Natalia Maliarchuk show solar symbols. “This is an unusual approach for Petrykivka painting, but every symbol includes certain notions,” the Lviv master says, “Each of them is a charm.”

It is known that Petrykivka painting emerged in Ukraine in pagan times and played the role of a charm. People believed that beauty possesses spiritual power, therefore the windows and doors of houses, and even clothes, were framed with magic ornament which protected the hosts. Petrykivka crafter Olena YARMOLIUK recalls the time when her grandmother decorated the stove. “As it was proper, on holidays grandmother whitened the stove and painted a new bouquet,” says the artist, “At first it was a house painting of Ukrainians. The stove was the main canvas. Women painted everything connected with our nature: birds, trees, flowers, Cossacks and their wives, and depicted Ukrainian folkways.”

With time the fairytale images started to be used as a decoration of plates and furniture too. Modern crafters use various materials for their works. When paper emerged, they started to paint “maliovky.”

Apart from traditional Petrykivka-style pictures, the artists have decorated many buildings in various corners of Ukraine, and even Georgia. For example, Halyna Nazarenko painted St. George Church in Kyiv, and jointly with Olena Yarmoliuk – the chapel near the spring of St. Pantaleon in the village Khutirske (Dnipropetrovsk region). And in October of this year Halyna Nazarenko and Iryna Kibets painted the Church of Intercession of the Theotokos near Kyiv in the village Shevchenkovo.

The residents of Chernihiv will be able to feast their eyes on the works of Petrykivka artists till December 7. The curators of the project plan to show the exhibit in Europe after that. They say, if they have time, they will show Petrykivka paintings to Kyivites as well. They have already received corresponding proposals from the exhibition centers of the capital.