“Flower of the nation”

Roman Bonchuk, a well-known Ivano-Frankivsk artist, has dedicated this exhibit to the 25th anniversary of Ukraine’s independence. The master emphasizes that our society needs to reconsider its history, establish its own identity, and be aware of responsibility for the future. It also needs the establishment of a national pantheon of heroes who are not just creating another myth but are helping to properly assess the stormy past and the present day, emerging as a spiritual and moral nucleus for defending and building a united state, supporting and boosting the progressive activity of society. This is consonant with the testament of Ivan Franko whose 160th birth anniversary we marked on August 27: “It is time for us to live for Ukraine.”

History is made by strong personalities, bearers of a true spirit, who are prepared even to face death as part of their moral and inner responsibility – this is the ideological concept and leitmotif of Bonchuk’s original project, according to exhibit organizers.

The traveling exhibit, which began in Ivano-Frankivsk, is now in Kyiv and will be staged in various nooks of Ukraine, displays about 50 portraits of the past and present prominent historical figures – the creators of Ukrainian statehood.

The picturesque portraits, partly executed in the shape of honeycombs, will show to spectators an almost century-long history of our state – from its founding fathers to the present-day activists and defenders, such as religious figures, politicians, Cossacks, kobzars, Maidan protesters, cyborgs, and other ATO fighters who fell in the east. In particular, there are portraits of Nikolai Gogol, Yosyp Slipy, Ivan Franko, Viacheslav Chornovil, Serhii Nigoyan, Nazar Voitovych, Roman Huryk, Ustym Holodniuk, Libomyr Huzar, Lina Kostenko, Taras Prokhasko, Oles Sanin, and others.

The exhibit, now held at Ukrainian House’s art gallery, will remain open until September 4.