{"id":787106,"date":"2026-09-30T05:16:15","date_gmt":"2026-09-30T05:16:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/787106\/"},"modified":"2026-09-30T05:16:15","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T05:16:15","slug":"ukrainian-museum-in-new-york-marks-50th-anniversary-by-showing-collection-to-its-neighbours-the-art-newspaper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/787106\/","title":{"rendered":"Ukrainian Museum in New York marks 50th anniversary by showing collection to its neighbours – The Art Newspaper"},"content":{"rendered":"

The artist Molly Gochman<\/a>, who is known for her work with community, memorabilia and storytelling, has brought her long-running\u00a0Memory Collage\u00a0project to the\u00a0Ukrainian Museum<\/a>\u00a0in New York this autumn on the occasion of the institution\u2019s 50th anniversary.<\/p>\n

She has been working with the museum\u2019s head of collections, Maria Rewakowicz, and exploring the permanent collection of more than 46,000 objects (from photographs and documents to textiles and ceramics) reflecting the diverse stories of Ukrainian emigration and culture. The collage in the museum\u2019s glass-walled entryway, windows and lobby was unveiled on 26 September<\/a>, when the artist invited members of the community to bring anything from a fragment of fabric, a letter, photograph, handwritten recipe or shard of porcelain to be scanned and projected on-site. Gochman also accepts\u00a0contributions to the project by email<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The museum is located in the part of Manhattan\u2019s Lower East Side historically known as Ukrainian Village. Waves of Ukrainian emigr\u00e9s fleeing tsarist pogroms, Bolshevik, Stalinist, and Nazi persecution, and now Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, have left their imprint on the institution. It was founded by the Ukrainian National Women\u2019s League, with a collection dating back to the acquisition of 600 Ukrainian folk art pieces at the 1933-34 Chicago World\u2019s Fair.<\/p>\n

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Installation of Memory Collage: Materials from The Ukrainian Museum Collection by Molly Gochman Image courtesy of the artist. Photograph by Alex Mctigue<\/p>\n

Gochman\u2019s series was initially inspired by her transformation of time-damaged Kodachrome slides images of her mother into works of art for her 2009 exhibition\u00a0Spring<\/a>, which examined themes of memory and rebirth.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to create these ways that people could share their memorabilia and we could project that and collage it together,\u201d she told The Art Newspaper in a video interview. A framed letter typed by her father was visible behind her, illustrating the artist\u2019s connection to family artefacts. Gochman\u2019s ancestors fled pogroms in Talne, Ukraine.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are people in the neighbourhood who have no idea the Ukrainian Museum exists,\u201d Gochman said, in spite of the urgency created by Russia\u2019s ongoing assault on Ukraine, its heritage and culture.She spoke of the need for awareness about Russian AI drones targeting Ukrainian civilians and the Russian kidnapping of Ukrainian children.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything can be so numbing. Everyone has their own dramas and their own stories,\u201d she added. \u201cWhen people pass the museum and see\u00a0Memory Collage, I think that they\u2019ll feel awe because it will look like these windows have suddenly become stained glass overnight, and when the sun hits it the right way, it will project the images inside the museum. They\u2019ll see there\u2019s this unique flavour, unique style to Ukrainian design. Putin will say this is part of Russia. No. We\u2019re a very unique country, with our unique culture. We are separate. We have our own culture and heritage.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The artist Molly Gochman Photo by Aly Morrissey<\/p>\n

Gochman is especially fascinated by the textiles and embroidery in the museum\u2019s collection, \u201cthe imagining of the making, how that really brings you into reality\u201d and their communal nature. \u201cWeaving creates so much strength. As we become closer in relationship, we become so much stronger. That\u2019s how Ukraine has managed to hold up to this behemoth [in the war with Russia]. They are so deeply tied with community. They\u2019re like a team that really believes in what they\u2019re doing together because they\u2019re holding on to their culture and their families and their livelihoods. That stitching together, and that connecting, is creating something so much stronger than you would have with just individual strands.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Kyiv-born curator and cultural promoter Elena Siyanko, who previously led PS21 in Chatham, New York, is working to bolster the museum\u2019s integration into the community, including through a new partnership with the neighbouring Cooper Union Schools of Art and Architecture.<\/p>\n

\u201cMolly Gochman\u2019s project and work with our archive aligns with our current efforts\u00a0to activate our\u00a0lower-level gallery as a dedicated venue for collection- and archive-driven exhibitions,\u201d Siyanko said. The museum\u2019s \u201crevitalisation of its lobby and street-level spaces as a community commons\u201d, she continued, will include a 17 October \u201creading rave\u201d showcasing Ukraine\u2019s art publications and diaspora editions illustrated by artists such as Jacques Hnizdovsky.<\/p>\n

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Installation of Memory Collage: Materials from The Ukrainian Museum Collection by Molly Gochman Image courtesy of the artist. Photograph by Alex Mctigue<\/p>\n

Gochman also worked with Siyanko\u2019s predecessor, Peter Doroshenko<\/a>, to create UKR\/RUS<\/a>, a sculptural installation delineating a physical and metaphorical boundary between the countries. That experience introduced her to the depth of art and craft in the museum\u2019s archives and its connection with the avant-garde. Those themes continue in the museum\u2019s current exhibitions, including The Ground Shifts Beneath Our Feet<\/a> by the Ukrainian contemporary artist Zhanna Kadyrova and\u00a0A Living Canvas<\/a>, which traces the connection between fine art and folk art.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love that with the\u00a0Memory Collage\u00a0we\u2019re going to be able to connect people\u2019s treasures with these higher treasures and with craft, and all of that can be coexisting, and intertwining,\u201d Gochman said. \u201cIt would be really interesting to see how that shard, this little piece of something that was, could be exhibited along with a more contemporary photography coming out of Ukraine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Siyanko concurs: \u201cOur vision positions the museum at the forefront of preserving and strengthening Ukrainian cultural agency, where Ukraine is seen not as a monolith but as a\u00a0cosmopolitan\u00a0culture that takes in other cultures and gives in return.\u201d<\/p>\n