Ukrainian Embroidery From The Concentration Camps
Mordovian A.S.S.R. Labor Camp Number Three
Barashevo, Siberia, Soviet Union

"Symbols In Ukrainian Embroidery Art"

"Love of ornamentation is one of those singular national characteristics which the Ukrainian land, lying as it does within the sphere of the Mediterranean culture, bequeathed to the Ukrainian people. Ornamentation was found on the remains of Neolithic structures, on prehistoric ceramics and metal artifacts. Along with the joy they found in the harmony of lines, the Ukrainian people of that era also experienced a religious awakening. And so into their ornamentation they entwined symbols of the sun and of good fortune, symbols which were the outward signs of their beliefs and which helped keep them from evil." "This is how Ukrainian embroidery art came into being. An embroidered or weave-in design served to
decorate a shirt, a skirt, a tablecloth, a pillow....With the coming of Christianity the symbols of the sun and of good fortune lost their original connotations, but remained in Ukrainian ornamentation as witnesses of the past. Ornamentation art was enriched with the cross and other symbols of the Christian era. With the passing of time it was to fall under the sway of various art styles, with the Byzantine and the baroque leaving the deepest impressions."

"Ukrainian embroidery has a long history behind it, a history throughout which it brought joy to its creators during periods when Ukrainian folk culture flourished and periods when it declined. And it was an important factor in the national rebirth the 19th century brought to Ukraine: along with the Ukrainian language and song. Ukrainian embroidery nourished the national consciousness of the Ukrainian masses.
   Embroidery on a shirt, a towel, or a pillow spoke of a family's national consciousness and became a symbol of national feeling. It came to be used widely in church decorations, during official functions, and in city clothing."
"Embroidery had in the past and has now a special meaning for Ukrainians -- a people whose history is one of centuries of enslavement. During the Stalin era hundreds and thousands of nationally conscious Ukrainian people were thrown into prisons and concentrations camps merely for having embroidered articles in their possession, articles which advertised this national consciousness. From the numberous memoirs that have reached the West is is known that embroidered shirts and blouses were among the modest possessions of political prisoners in Siberia, Kazakhstan, and Mordovia. These things were something sacred, something which was saved for a special occasion. Perhaps even for the return home."

"Not all prisoners were able to bring their embroidered possessions with them and hold on to them through the difficulties of the investigation and the numeroustransfers. But a solution was found---produce the embroidery within the confines of the prison or the concentration camp. It did not matter that cloth, thread, and an indispensable tool--a needle--were lacking. A human being in prison is a human being who is of necessity inventive. Thread was obtained from sacks and colored dyes extracted from plants. Needles were fashioned from sharpened bits of wire. And thus was embroidery produced in prison--stealthily, away from the eyes of the guards, and, obviously, marked with a large measure of artistic individualism. Again it became a symbol. But this time not as an invitation to happiness nor as a statement of national feelings, but as a symbol of the national dignity of the suffering Ukrainian political prisoner."

"The Ukrainian embroidery which was born in the concentration camps also traveled an evolutionary road. Beginning as an improvisation, a mutation by reason of the nature of the materials available to prisoners-- irregular thread and colors--it went a step farther. In the loneliness of the camp barracks it brought to women-political prisoners the joy of creative searching. It went beyond the bounds of ornamentation and became a symbolic expression of an appropriate religious or political theme."

"While ornamental tapestries as examples of monumental-decorative art were quite widespread in Ukraine, especially due to the influence of 17th and 18th century French Gobelins, thematic embroidery was a rarity and never attained mass popularity. Embroidered portraits of Ukrainian national heroes, especially the works of Ukrainian women exiled in Siberia, however, are known."
  "The thematic embroideries of Ukrainian women who either were or still are political prisoners in the camps of the Moldovian A.S.S.R., constitute, therefore, a unique expression of creativity, singular for its originality, and abounding in symbolism of a social, religions, and even a political nature."

"The symbolic pictures embroidered by Ukrainian women-political prisoners are built on a very singular basis: they are, above all, not really pictures, but, with respect to their dimension, miniatures. Within the very limited confines of the embroidery, a whole active scene unfolds or a symbol with a very specific meaning blossoms forth."

"Together with the thematic embroideries, which must be considered masterpieces of Ukrainian monumental-decorative art, several decorative bookmarks, filled with ornamentation patterned on more traditional Ukrainian embroidery, also came out of Mordovia. The remaining items are small photographic albums and notebooks, which, considering that they were made from cloth taken from prison clothing, are embroidered with ornamentation in colors that are marvelously appropriate and well-placed."

"These embroideries, in their scope, themes, composition and symbolism testify to the invincibility of the creative spirit of the Ukrainian women who are political prisoners in the U.S.S.R. For their uniqueness and artistic excellence they shall become a part of the history not only of Ukrainian but also of world art, and will stand as an inspiration to the creative youth of the Ukrainian nation, which is fighting for its freedom."

By: Lidia Burachynska
"Invincible Spirit" Pages 11-12

Preface...

..."What is to be found on those pages? In the miniature masterpieces of Ukrainian symbolic-decorative embroidery art -- proof that the dehumanizing environment of the camps cannot suppress the human yearning for beauty. In the poetry and excerpts from letters -- a reflection of the human feelings and suffering that filled the lives of the women. In the appeals and letters of protest written by the Ukrainian women in the camps -- testimony to their unshaken faith in the righteousness of their cause, to their continuing refusal to compromise with the authorities, to their strength and dignity. And, above all, in almost every piece of embroidery and letter, there is something which reminds of their faith in God and their pride in their Ukrainian heritage."
 "The embroidered artworks reproduced here were smuggled out of labor camp No. 3 near the town of Barashevo in the Mordovian A.S.S.R. and came to the West in a number of unusual ways. The poems of Iryna Senyk, Iryna Stasiv-Kalynets, and Stefaniya Shabatura, as well as copies of the open letters of protest and appeals written by the women in the camps, circulated in the 'saamvydav', the underground press in Ukraine, before reaching the West."
 "It has been impossible to attribute any particular piece of embroidery to any one individual. But we do know the names of those Ukrainian women who were in camp No. 3 in Mordovia when these works were created."
  "They are Stefaniya Shabatura, an artist specializing in tapestries; Nina Strokata-Karavanska, microbiologist and physician; Nadiya Svitlychna, philologist; Iryna Senyk, nurse by profession, poetess by avocation; and Iryna Stasiv-Kalynets, writer and poetess. All of them were imprisoned in early 1972 for standing up in defense of other Ukrainian political prisoners, for their own roles in the Ukrainian cultural revival of the sixties and early seventies, and, in at least two cases, for refusing to renounce their own husbands, who had also been repressed for political reasons."
  "Also in the same camp, serving 15 and 25-year sentences for taking part in the post-war struggle for Ukrainian independence, were Maria Palchak, Halyna Didyk, Odarka Husyak, and Kateryna Zarytska-Soroka. It is not known whether these women also contributed to the creation of the embroidery art depicted on the following pages. After these works had already been brought out from behind the barbed wire, the most recent Ukrainian women political prisoner, Oksana Popuvych--an invalid--was transferred to the same camp...

"Invincible Spirit"...
"Art And Poetry Of Ukrainian Women
Political Prisoners In The U.S.S.R."
Smoloskyp Publishers, 1977
Baltimore-Chicago-Toronto-Paris

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