THE IMPORTANCE OF THE UKRAINIAN CULTURE

 POLINA RAYKOS' HOUSE OF ART

Art wrenches itself into existence from the gut. It is frequently born of pain and tragedy. It is healing in its expression. It is therapy on the highest level. The pain in Ukraine is unimaginable but not unknown. We are right now seeing it on a global level but the pain of Ukrainians has had a long history on both a national and personal level. 

With the beginning of 2022 we have been trying to reestablish our design presence. We have made a commitment to focus our Instagram account and our blog on our design work, but for this one entry I want to tell a story about a Ukrainian, a woman I've never met and might not have found out about had it not been for this war.

Polina Raykos was Ukrainian. Born in Oleshky, an impoverished tiny town in the southwest region of Ukraine. She never left. She never had the chance to. She was not destined to live a dramatic life. She married and had two children. She lived by the earth growing fruit and vegetables. She did odd jobs where she could. She had no television, no indoor plumbing, and barely any education. Her husband drank. Their son followed the same path. He would beat her and steal from her when he could. She lived to die. People under these circumstances rarely live a long life. The stress of getting through one more day is as far ahead as she allowed herself to see. 

Her death might have appeared as a reward, but life was destined not to be that easy. At sixty-six her daughter was killed in a freak car accident. A year later her husband died and her son was sent to prison.  The pain of loss and the hardship of going on spilled from her gut and manifested itself in a very unexpected way.

At the age of sixty-nine she picked up a paint brush, used her meager pension to buy inexpensive floor paint and began to paint on the only canvas she had: the surfaces of her home.

The walls, the ceilings, the fence surrounding her home were all the portals through which she began to expel her sorrow.

She was unschooled and without any outside influence she was a true naïve artist. Her style of work came from within. It's imagery is of joy, of family, of nature, of faith. It is pure and it surrounded her and it embraced her. It ended her loneliness and took away her fear. It made her feisty. It made her strong. It made her bold.

It healed her wounds. It allowed her to go on with the determination to cover up all the pain that she had known with joyous art.

Polina Rayko died at seventy-four. For five years she painted everyday, every hour. Before the war the community was trying to turn the house into a museum, a memorial to one of the world's great folk artists. It now sits in a war zone. Its fate is unknown and unclear. It wouldn't be the most important lose but it would be a terrible one.

There are too many people who have already given the greatest sacrifice but I'd like to think that some how Polina's love will protect it and part of the rebuilding of Ukraine will include the preservation of Granny Polina's house of joy.