Protectress

The artist's most recent object, “Berehynia” (The Protectress), was begun in Prague after the start of the Russian aggression in Ukraine. The sculpture brings into the present a symbol of Ukrainian culture many centuries old — the protective mother. Mother and woman, firmly rooted in ancient folk traditions, grows out of the earth like a tree and holds and shelters her children in her branches. Symbolic missiles falling on her mighty body cause her pain, but they cannot harm her — she is strong and steadfast enough for that.

The project, initiated by the artist herself out of an experience of war in her own country that cannot be put into words, was supported from the start by the Czech Centres and realised over six months in 2022 as part of a special residency programme for Ukrainian artists and cultural workers fleeing the war.