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Maria Oksentiyivna Prymachenko Maria Oksentiyivna Prymachenko was a Ukrainian artist who mostly worked with the naive art style. Whilst her creations were internationally recognised and even commended by Pablo Picasso, she remained in her hometown of Bolotnia and lived a very humble life with her close friends and family, devoting her life to her work. Prymachenko was first inspired to start creating art as a young child when she contracted polio, leaving her unable to walk unaided. The two biggest influences in her art were her mother, who taught her embroidery to pass time and stories of Ukrainian heroes and mythical creatures. Prymachenko was never particularly interested in agriculture or food production (which was the main industry that supported her town) in her youth, and preferred drawing and painting with sticks on pavements and grass instead. Her mother recognized this talent and encouraged her to pursue a career in it, even allowing her to paint flowers on the walls throughout their house. Although some neighbours disapproved, believing her work was frivolous and gaudy, in her teenage years she joined a local association for embroidery projects and strived to improve her skills. Eventually her work was also acknowledged by the artist Tetiana Floru, who invited her to collaborate with a workshop in the Kyiv Museum of Ukrainian Art. Her career sprouted rapidly from that point on, as she developed more techniques and expanded her repertoire in themes to explore. Her first major breakthrough came when her art was displayed and sold at the Kyiv Museum Festival and people were immediately drawn to her gingerly drawn, gentle, and yet simultaneously bold and brassy art. The 1936 Republican Folk Art Exhibition, shown in major cities around Russia, also furthered her fame and in 1937 her art was also publi-
cised in a European tour, making her the first female Ukrainian artist to do so. When World War 2 began at one of the highest peaks in her professional life, Prymachenko resiliently withstood the pain of being made unable to share her artwork with the world. Her artistic style evolved during this time of chaos as she incorporated more traditional Ukrainian folk art elements and folklore into it, as well as switching to illustrating with mainly acrylics and gouache. Her art also metamorphosed into message-centred pieces, which had a bold anti-conflict stance. She described this turbulent period as “one of the most painful experiences, hands down”, and in the decade following she processed her grief in the home she was raised in, channelling her emotions into more creativity. One of her most famous quotes also comes from this era: “I stood in the metal rain, and I hid in burning trees. Yet my blood ran red and I survived. I saw light in Valhalla.”
Prymachenko’s work celebrates the humongous world which she imagined, established and travelled around in her mind combined with the colourful palette of Ukrainian traditions, and has recently been re-examined and evaluated for its cultural impact, serving as a new global anti-war symbol. Today, a street in Kyiv and multiple art scholarships for young girls are named after her, and the footsteps she left behind are still extremely influential, twenty years after her death.
Akari Ikeda, Year 10, School House 9
