A legacy of ashes: does the flooded house of the artist Raiko teach us nothing?

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The house of the artist Polina Rayko in Oleshki was completely flooded. This was reported by the project manager of the Charitable Foundation named after her, Semen Khramtsov. What was the legacy of the khedoznitsa, and why does the responsibility for the loss of our cultural heritage lie, in particular, on all of us? Researcher of the Ukrainian South and researcher of the National Museum of the History of Ukraine in the Second World War, Roman Kabachii, writes about this in his column specially for UP.Zhyttia. One of the elements of the exhibition “Ukraine. Crucifixion”, which is currently on display at the National Museum of the History of Ukraine in the Second World War, is the items that survived the fire of the Ivankiv Regional History Museum on February 25, 2022. It was in this local museum that several dozen paintings of Maria Pryimachenko were kept, saved by the watchman Anatoly Kharytonchuk and two other young men. On the morning of February 24, when the full-scale invasion began, Anatoliy, acting on the instructions of Nataliya Biryuk, head of the culture department, removed all of Pryimachenko’s paintings and put them in a large wooden box in a nearby hall. When the museum was hit by an incendiary projectile, most likely from a Russian checkpoint across the Teterev River south of Ivankovo, Anatoliy, local athlete and blogger Ihor Nikolayenko and another young man tore down the bars of the museum, climbed through the window and began rescuing the exhibits, especially the paintings. Already in May, after the liberation, Pavlo Smovzh admitted that he was afraid to comment on the rescued paintings in order not to harm them. Exhibition “Ukraine. Crucifixion”. On the right – salvaged exhibits from the Ivankiv Museum of Local History and a projection of Maria Prymachenko’s painting “Atomic war, be damned!” (1978). Photos courtesy of the Museum of the History of Ukraine in the Second World War. Read also: Which sights are at risk due to the explosion of the Kakhovskaya HPP – map This story with a conditional happy ending (because the museum did burn down along with other valuable exhibits) proves one thing: at the right time there must be people ready to accept the right decision. Take responsibility. In this case, it is Nataliya Biryuk – to remove the paintings and Anatoly Kharytonchuk – to save the paintings. And this example is rather an exception in the wide canvas of the war that Russia has unleashed against us, without hiding the fact that it is a war primarily against our culture and history. And actually another example of how NOT to treat the heritage of the people is the story of the house of Polina (Pelagia) Raiko in Oleshki on the left bank of the Kherson Region. The woman was born in 1928 and had a difficult fate. At the age of 69, from 1998 until her death in January 2004, she painted with enamel paints all surfaces in the house, on the porch, on the graves of her husband and son. In the style that is commonly called ar brut, or naive art, with such a flavor of southern life on the river, she painted seagulls, boats, fish and swans, God and the Virgin, herself with her sisters, her children. Polina Pelageya Raiko. Photo from the page of the Charitable Foundation named after her. On the last suitable surface – the back of the mirror – she drew her own self-portrait. Neighbors laughed at her, although art critics began to visit her during her lifetime, regional television made a small film. However, officially no one was going to recognize the artistic value of the object at 74 Nizhnya Street. The question of the cut became when Polina died. The grandson, who was the only descendant, intended to sell the house to neighbors who needed to build a garage. That is, the house would be demolished as such. Painted walls in Polina Raiko’s house. Photo from the page of the Charitable Foundation named after her. Kherson art manager and curator Olena Afanasyeva undertook a moral mission to tell the world about Polina’s house. Then, in 2004, she obtained a so-called “certificate of protection” from the regional inspectorate for the protection of historical and cultural monuments. This made it possible to postpone the sale for 9 months for the study of Polina Rayko’s house as a heritage site. During this time, the Kyiv artist Borys Yegiazaryan found buyers who would take care of the object in its original state. The house of the 1970s was bought by the Canadian couple Olena Kosharna and Andrews Nemitskas. Andrews gave Olena an unusual wedding gift as a Ukrainian by origin. Painted walls in Polina Raiko’s house. Photo from the page of the Charitable Foundation named after her. Polina’s friend lived in the house, but she also died a few years later. Moreover, she did not use all the rooms, so already during her management some paintings began to deteriorate. When the house was deserted, the situation began to resemble a catastrophic one. Proposals were made to move the house to Kyiv, either completely or partially, preserving the painted surface of the border using Italian technology… And the house was slowly dying. Despite the fact that some drawings were lost (mainly on the outside and on the fragile surfaces of the plaster), all of Polina Raiko’s work was captured by high-quality photography, and in 2005, the photo album “Road to Paradise” was published with the funds of the Embassy of the Netherlands. Photocopy from the album “Road to Paradise” provided by Roman Kabachiy However, the problems of the house did not go away. Only the neighbors helped, who agreed to look after the house, because they saw that tourists and journalists constantly go there. The state could not intervene in the object of private property, and in the meantime, the owners divorced, and Polina Raiko’s house formally belongs to Olena Kosharnia, with whom there is no connection. In December 2016, the Department of Culture of the Kherson Regional State Administration, together with the Oleshkiv Regional State Administration, even announced that they planned to buy this estate and create the first museum of naïve art in Ukraine. The Kherson edition “Most” wrote at the time that the authorities “… plan to allocate 650 thousand hryvnias from the regional budget for the purchase of the house and the preparation of the land management project for the future museum. The authorities plan to attract another 300 thousand hryvnias from other sources.” And… nothing like that happened. The money languished in the budget for a year and was not used. The same was repeated later. On February 24, 2022, Oleshki was occupied by the Russians. On June 7, 2023, Polina Rayko’s house was under water from the Kakhovsky Reservoir after an explosion in the dam on June 6. Painted walls in Polina Raiko’s house. Photo from the page of the Charitable Foundation named after Olena Afanasieva, who is the head of the Kherson Center for Cultural Development “Totem”, says in despair: “The only good thing that they managed to do is at the request of the Kherson Regional Inspectorate for the Protection of Historical and Cultural Monuments by order of the head of the Kherson Regional State Administration on November 5, 2021, Polina Raiko’s house was finally entered into the register of monuments of local importance. At least local! Although we all understand that in fact it is a world heritage. But the official status of a monument opened the possibility to return the object to ownership through the court state – for improper care of it. Although there were no such precedents, it is legally possible, and it was the only chance to get out of this stalemate. Instead, now at least there can be a lawsuit against Russia, which committed a war crime over this monument.” While in the murky water from the largest water reservoir in the South of Ukraine, the pictures are falling from the walls of the house at Nizhnaya 74 in Oleshki, you can just close your eyes and imagine, as the icon painter Ivanka Krypyakevich-Dymyd wrote, a Paradise place, “…where even the dog house was covered with ornaments. Imagine a retired woman painting the ceiling of her hut, and thin enamel floats on her fingers, hands, drips on her face… this kind of work is mostly done on long winter evenings, because in spring, summer and autumn there is a lot of work outside the house…”. Imagine and ask yourself a question: why do our people sprinkle ashes on their heads only when something burns, sinks, or rots. And besides, to tell “what I would have painted better myself” – as the residents of Ivankovo ​​said about the rescued paintings of Maria Priymachenko. Why?

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