Vyshyvanka chronicles

 

The fifth event of the Weaving project was the Vyshyvanka chronicles from the NGO Center for Cultural Development Totem from Kherson, which was introduced in Lviv. 

On January 14 at 17:00, the visual part of the project was presented in the Detenpyla gallery. 

Kherson. Eight months of Russian occupation. Eight months of resistance, first visible, then silent. Many residents of Kherson were forced to leave their homes, but the city preserved Ukrainian lifestyle. From the first days of the occupation, the well-known tour guide and craftswoman Inna Mikutska began to keep a journal, which she called Chronicles of Vyshyvanka because every day she wrote down her observations, telling about her life and making the Victorious Vyshyvanka (there is an ancient Ukrainian belief that says when the Vyshyvanka is finished, a wish will come true; that is, Kherson will be liberated). Eight months, day by day, 260 days, cross by cross. The author says that she could not do anything else – only embroider. During the occupation, she created three vyshyvankas. Wearing one of them – the Liberation Vyshyvanka – on November 11, she met the Ukrainian soldiers who liberated Kherson. And the  Victorious Vyshyvanka is still waiting for its day. Chronicles of Vyshyvanka united the residents of Kherson who remained under occupation and those who were forced to leave their homes. The NGO Center for Cultural Development Totem offered artists from Kherson in different cities of Ukraine and in other countries of the world to choose one day from Chronicle and make an illustration for it. This is how the community united despite the war and borders. This is how the project Chronicles of Vyshyvanka: Chronicles of Cultural Resistance was born. It is the occupation diary, illustrated by 41 artists from Kherson.

 The sixth event of the Weaving project is the artist’s talk about Chronicles of Vyshyvanka from the NGO Center for Cultural Development Totem from Kherson. On January 15 at 18:00 at the Lviv Municipal Art Center (Stephanyka Street, 11), the meeting with project curator Olena Afanasyeva, author of Chronicles of Vyshyvanka Inna Mykutska, human rights defender Natalya Bimbiraite, curator of the Weaving project Anton Tkachenko took place. Inna Mykutska is the author of Chronicles of Vyshyvanka. It describes life in occupied Kherson from the first to the last day. It’s about the atmosphere, the mood, waiting for the Armed Forces every day, and hope because almost every entry in the diary ends with the words, “Remember that I have no other reality, but the one where Ukraine wins and Kherson is liberated.” Olena Afanasyeva, curator, and the head of the NGO Center for Cultural Development Totem was talking about the transformation of cultural practices after February 24, 2022, and how to see the future in the projects created during the war. Natalia Bimbiraite, human rights defender and public leader, represents two organizations at once,  namely the Ukraine-Lithuania Cultural Center and the Legal Space Information Resource Center, was talking about the documentation of Russia’s war crimes and why Kherson’s powerful resistance was not only a shock for the occupiers but also a surprise for Ukraine. Anton Tkachenko, an artist, curator, and co-founder of 127 garage, told the visitors about the Weaving project, self-organization in art, 127 garage, and relocation.

Funded by the Stabilisation Fund for Culture and Education 2022 of the German Federal Foreign Office and the Goethe-Institut.