In April, the Ukrainian National Museum in Chicago joined the work on the intercontinental project "Towel of Unity with Ukraine", initiated as part of the cultural initiative "Colour of Vyshyvanka". The towel, which will include pieces from different regions of Ukraine and countries where Ukrainians live, will become a symbol of the spiritual and cultural unity of the Ukrainian people. The part to be embroidered in Chicago will represent the United States of America. Ukrainian diaspora artisans are creating the Bukovyna Tree of Life, a symbol of strength, heritage and unity with Ukraine.
This was reported by the Ukrainian National Museum.
Well-known artisans from the Ukrainian community in Chicago participated in the embroidery: Nastasia Marusyk, Oksana Maletska-Kazanivska, Nastia Sarancha, Halia Parasyuk and Ksenia Levchenko.
The motif chosen for the Chicago towel is the Bukovyna Tree of Life, based on ornaments in a book by Austrian ethnographer and engineer Erich Kolbenheir, who collected and documented Ukrainian embroidery in Bukovyna villages in the early twentieth century. The basis for the composition was a picture of the village of Kadubivtsi in the Zastavna district, the home village of one of the project participants and the museum's president, Victoria Tkachuk. президентки Музею Вікторії Ткачук, лягло в основу композиції.
In the artists' modern interpretation, the Tree of Life combines authentic elements and diaspora symbolism, with blue and yellow birds on the branches symbolising Ukrainians who have flocked to America from various waves of emigration, and pink flowers representing beauty and strength growing in a new environment. The swarga, an ancient symbol of fire, symbolises spirit, protection and strength. The Statue of Liberty, embroidered next to it, is a symbol of America as a country that has welcomed Ukrainians. And the colours of the flags of other countries from which Ukrainian immigrants came are embroidered as a sign of the international dimension of the Ukrainian-American community.
"These birds, as you can see, are blue and yellow, which means that these are our Ukrainian immigrants who came from all over the world. And you can see a variety of colours in the pattern - these are the colours of the flags of the countries from which the immigrants came to the United States. This ornament embodies the beauty of all the emigration that has gathered here in America," the artisans said.
The participants also noted that the symbol of the Tree of Life will be a tribute to Agapiy Honcharenko, the first Ukrainian, the "father" of Ukrainian immigration, who documented the presence of the Ukrainian community in the United States by publishing a Ukrainian-language press on the American continent. The image of the Tree of Life symbolises not only tradition, but also the historical continuity of the Ukrainian presence in the United States.
The artisans emphasize that this part of the rushnyk will represent the Ukrainian-American community as a branch of a single tree of Ukrainians, branching out around the world but retaining common roots.
The process of embroidery in the museum will be open to the public, accompanied by stories about the history of the ornament and the meaning of the symbols.
Author: Inna Mikhno