Holodomor Exhibition in Kyiv - 24Nov2005
Stefan Lemieszewski
http://en.for-ua.com/news/2005/11/24/105044.html
ForUm
24Nov2005
Holodomor Exhibition in Kyiv
By E. Morgan Williams
On Friday, November 25, the President of Ukraine will open an exhibition at
the Ukrainian House in Kyiv about the Ukrainian Genocide - the Holodomor-
Famine-Terror Death for Millions, of 1932-1933 imposed on the Ukrainian
nation by the Soviet government of Josef Stalin.
Part of that major exhibition will feature a series of 85 graphics,
linocuts, by Mykola Mykhaylovych Bondarenko, Ukrainian graphic artist from
the village of Dmytrivka in the Sumy Oblast.
The artworks answer the question as to what people, when their entire normal
supply of food was stolen away by the Soviets were forced to eat in their
frantic attempt to defy death by hunger. This will be the first exhibition
of these artworks in Ukraine. Mr. Bondarenko, born in 1949, will be present
at the Holodomor Exhibition.
Oleksander Kapitonenko, Simferopol, in a preface to a book about the
Bondarenko graphics, published by the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the USA
wrote: "From early childhood, Mykola Mykhaylovych (Bondarenko) loved to
listed to the old people reminiscing about village life in the olden days.
Having learned about the famine, he attempted to reproduce it graphically,
but was not satisfied with the few sketches he made. The artist wished to
tell about this tragedy in his own, different way.
He considered the fact, that although entire families and entire villages
were annihilated by the famine, some individuals managed to survive. What
was it that helped them defy death by hunger?
He went around [for five years from 1988-1993] questioning the old- timers
[famine survivors in his district] who told him about their unbelievable
"menu".
Thus he found the answer to his question; he decided to portray not the
emaciated [dying] peasants, but rather the "food" which they were forced to
ingest in order to [attempt] to survive.
At first he tried to paint several of the more common weeds which were
consumed by the starving people, raw or prepared. Then he turned to
producing a series of graphical depictions of other
vegetation.
His sketchbooks contain drawings from nature of coughgrass, clover, hemp,
sweet-flag, burdock, rush (cane), nettle, thistles, lime tree and acacia
buds, from which engravings have been made.
Almost each engraving depicts a window, the cross-like frame of which
symbolizes the heavy cross, carried by those condemned to death. Every
windowpane symbolized the hope to survive the famine.
On such a background are depicted weeds and some other plants consumed by
the starving people during those horrible times. On the right windowpane is
the "recipe" for preparing this ersatz food.
Several of the engravings show the self-made tools, which helped the
peasants to chop, grind, sieve, squeeze, and other prepare the weeds [most
of them not really digestible in natural form]. To own such tools meant
risking one's life.
The most touching and alarming for the viewer are the depictions of domestic
animals - a cat, or a dog, fleeing to who knows where, so that they would
not be caught and eaten; carcasses of dead cows or horses, which the starved
populace did not hesitate to eat, and the panicked eyes of fledgling birds
in a nest, which is about to be robbed by the hand of a starving person.
Noticeable is these engravings is the absense of any accusations of those
who wrote the scenario of the famine, and of those who only too eagerly
helped in this criminal action.
Only the sickles and hammers on the iron rods with which the village
activists [many sent to Ukraine by Stalin for this purpose] probed
everywhere in, looking for hidden food of the peasants, point to the cause
of the famine. [There are also two very small red stars near the bottom of
each side of every graphic which gives another clue as to the perpetrators
of the genocide against the Ukrainian people.]
And, also, the blood on the knife blade [found in one of the graphics]
reminds the viewer that we are dealing with a horrible crime." [by
Oleksander Kapitonenko, Simferopol in 2003]
The exhibition at the Ukrainian House will feature several hundred other
works about the Holodomor including paintings, posters, photos, documents,
and other graphic material.
The Bondarenko Exhibition is being arranged by Morgan Williams,
SigmaBleyzer, on behalf of the International Ukrainian Genocide - Holodomor
Committee and designed by Volodymyr and Irina Veshtak, expert graphic
artists, Kyiv, Ukraine.
The Action Ukraine Report (AUR)
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