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IDEAS AND SKETCHES
Volodymyr Rainhearth
Kherson
“Polina Raiko's table”
“Table” in Ukrainian sounds like “stil” –sounds similar like steel and steal in English.
From the author:
“Polina Raiko's house was flooded, the paintings were destroyed, but the table remained. Polina used to stand on this table when she painted the ceilings in her house. Using this table Polina created her universe. This table is a symbol of resilience, the table as steel! No one can steal our table!”
The sketch denotes the idea of a monument in the urban space, which is gathering point for creative people and initiatives.
Volodymyr Rainhearth
Kherson
Festival of enamel painting* “Breathe / Inhale”
From the author:
“Kherson doesn't have any interesting annual flashmobs, so this micro-festival could be one.
We have paints (enamel, which Polina Raiko used), desire and lack of protection**, just like Polina, so we are directly imitating her artistic practices.
We choose a location, gather there and paint whatever we can during the day: animals (real and not so real), plants (real and not so real), our lives (real and not so real) – in short, everything that the enamel inspired!”
*Polina Raiko painted with the cheapest paint – enamel, which she bought at the local market.
**Kherson has been under constant shelling of Russian militaries since its liberation from the Russian occupiers. Kherson is located on the right bank of the Dnieper River. The Russians are shelling the city from the left bank, and due to the close distance, it is impossible to protect yourself either with shelters or with air defense systems (the shells fly for only a few minutes or even seconds).
Olga Zavalniuk
Kherson
An Easter egg. A course of Easter egg therapy (drawing Easter eggs based on Polina Raiko's designs).
According to various mythologies, the egg symbolizes the birth of life, its beginning, and in a broader sense, the creation of the universe. Ukrainian fairy-tale “Egg of Paradise” is a symbol of Eternity, the Universe, and paradise. Polina Raiko created her own universe in her house, looking for her way to paradise. Her characters on Easter eggs are logical development of the tradition and can become a highlight of a new original line of Easter eggs from the Kherson region.
A blooming card made from handmade scooped paper. During the creation of the paper, seeds of plants that Polina Raiko grew in her garden (tomato, pepper, dill, radish) as well as seeds of flowers (marigolds, asters) are added.
Sometimes Polina Raiko's Seeds is about modern technologies and large-scale futures art projects, and sometimes it's about something simple and touchable, something that warms you up here and now. For example, a cup of tea “from Polina Raiko's garden”, which includes the usual plants of the south – chamomile, mint, sage, thyme, even willow and nettle.
Ольга Завальнюк
м. Херсон
«Захотілось запропонувати печивко. Пам’ятаю, ви говорили що ви змогли врятувати записи Поліни з рецептами. Може там рецепт печива є? Як на мене, нічого більш вічного немає, ніж ця залізна коробка для печива, в якій після печива зберігають усяке необхідне (і не необхідне також). Часто буває, що й людина помирає, а коробочка ще довго живе».
Ольга Завальнюк
м. Херсон
«Захотілось запропонувати печивко. Пам’ятаю, ви говорили що ви змогли врятувати записи Поліни з рецептами. Може там рецепт печива є? Як на мене, нічого більш вічного немає, ніж ця залізна коробка для печива, в якій після печива зберігають усяке необхідне (і не необхідне також). Часто буває, що й людина помирає, а коробочка ще довго живе».
Huliya Plyas
Kherson – Germany
Easter egg with characters of Polina Raiko.
Liza Evseeva
Nova Kakhovka - Lviv
Therapeutic Eden/Polina’s Garden
An architectural sketch that captures the idea of a garden that introduce us to Polina Raiko’s world and brings us out of an emotional crisis. There is a zone of solitude and silence, vegetable gardens, a pond with fish, an art practice zone, and a Greenhouse which is a zone for growing art. The functional zones of the garden are separated from each other by intangible boundaries (no fences), marked by doors painted like in Polina Raiko's house.
The author says that “the Eden/Polina’s Garden promotes the restoration of borders, personal boundaries, and the awareness of presence or absence in this world.”
Tetyana Adamenko
Dnipro
Wire light art, installation.
The silhouette of Polina Raiko's house, one third of its real size, is made of black metal wires, like wire art, with the silhouette of Polina Raiko inside (wire art also). The silhouette of the house stands on a heavy foundation of black stone and looks like a reminder of loss. But in the evening, if you go inside the space of the house (you can freely enter through the “door”), the black wires begin to glow from the movement, and colors scatter along the contours of the walls, which are not just a weaving of wires, but all characters of Polina. The heart of the installation is Polina Raiko, and the light emanates from her. The colors are in a limited palette of her enamels.
It is important that the light is on only when there is someone in the house, someone comes to visit Polina Raiko. In this way, the light becomes a metaphor for the presence of Polina's work in the noosphere, and this light is indestructible as long as people want to see and remember.
Max Eligulashvili
Kyiv
The idea is to create a mural with a drawing by Polina Raiko under a bridge or in a place where the water level is constantly changing. The work can be done with washable paint or waterproof paint, depending on what effect we want to achieve. In the first case, it will be a reminder of the heritage destroyed by the flood, in the second case, it will be a manifesto of the resilience and indestructibility of Polina's artistic heritage.
Oleksandr Zhukovsky
Kherson
Polina Raiko's home garden: symbiosis.
Installation.
Materials: metal wire, earth, seeds.
From the author:
“Hi, I'm here inspired by Polina's art and talking about it, and I made a “Polina Raiko's house” out of wire and my native land. I sowed seeds of various flowers in this house and now I just have to wait for the sprouts and flowers to grow. By the way, this house needs attention; it's a kind of parallel with abandoned houses that slowly die without owners, become cold and damp, and need care, because every house is like a living being, a house and a person complement each other, it's a symbiosis.”
KAR
Kherson
Coin “Polina Raiko”, in a case
Year: 2024
Mintage: 74 \1=74000₴
Diameter: 25,0 \?\
Material: gold \?
Face value: 74 hryvnia
Series: outstanding personalities of Ukraine
Description: The coin is dedicated to the memory of the Ukrainian artist Polina (Pelageya) Raiko. In memory of her love for art, in memory of her pension of 74 hryvnias per month, which she spent to buy paints. Polina Raiko lived in Oleshky at 74 Nyzhnia Street.
Artist: KAR
Obverse description:
On the obverse, in the center of the coin, there is a heart – an element that Polina Rayko often used in her work. Inside the heart is the image of the Small State Emblem of Ukraine in the form of a flower, which resembles the artist's style of depicting flowers. Outside the heart are graphic serifs that fill the figure of the coin with a kind of amazing texture that quotes one of Polina Raiko's drawing techniques. Inside the heart are the inscriptions: RAY and NBU \ National Bank of Ukraine \ 74 hryvnia \ year of minting 2024.
Reverse description:
On the reverse, there is a heart in the center of the coin. Inside the heart is a raven – one of the characters depicted by the artist. There is an inscription on the wings of the crow: Polina Raiko. The bird has a currency symbol (hryvnia) on the neck. Inside the heart around the raven is an inscription: 74 UAH (UAH is short for hryvnia). Below the bird is UA – the code designation of the state according to international standards. Outside the heart, the reverse, like the obverse, is decorated with graphic serifs.
Liza Evseeva
Nova Kakhovka - Lviv
Nightlight “Mirracle ceiling”.
Polina Raiko's painted ceilings are one of the most impressive elements of her work. Each room had different paintings. “I stand on the table, draw, sing and nothing hurts!” – grandma Polina said.
The night projector has a set of 7 slides according to the number of rooms in Polina Raiko's house. At night, you can turn it on in your room and be transported to the world of Polina Raiko.
Kateryna Kondratieva
м. Івано-Франківськ
Kaleidoscope
An optical device that allows you to create patterns. In the figurative sense, a rapid change of phenomena, persons, events.
When a person first entered Polina Raiko's house, it’s bright colors and strange characters mixed in a head, so later it was hard to remember one thing. Polina Raiko's house exists in the memory as a kaleidoscope of images and colors. At the same time, even fragments of memory create a wonderful world that is childlike and fascinating, and it is difficult to tear oneself away from.
Nastya Kulyk
Vinnytsia
The idea: to create replicas of Raiko's everyday clothes, according to her size. To recreate her everyday clothes from photographs and give people the opportunity to put them on and feel to be her. To make either a performative action, during which you can put on her everyday clothes, stand on a table and paint the ceiling, or organize a kind of fashion show with models of different sizes.
Tetyana Adamenko
Dnipro
The animated series “Polina Raiko's Steamboat”
Slogan: Naive art returns the stolen art.
Age of the audience: 18+
Duration: 6 episodes of 6 minutes each.
Logline: characters from Polina Raiko's drawings travel on a steamer and return cultural values that were stolen by Russians.
The characters from Polina Raiko's drawings: Martin the seagull, Noah the pigeon, Zhuchok the dog, the NotCat leopard brothers, Arktika the bear, and four sisters who are constantly quarreling with each other. The steamer is driven by the she-Captain; the he-Captain sleeps in the hold among the bottles, and the steamer is accompanied by a gray-haired Mermaid, Fish and Turtles.
There is no Polina Raiko herself among the characters on the steamer, but they know that they were created by Polina and want to return home. They miss Polina. All the characters are mental images of works of art in the collective consciousness. In the real world, people perceive the characters as people, no one is able to see them as they are. The Steamboat can twist through space, navigate by lighthouses, and appear in the middle of any pond or river in the center of any city.
The external enemy of the Steamboat is the Black Raven of Despondency, who chases the characters. Internal enemy is the he-Captain, who sleeps, drinks, and fishes happily most of the time, but at the most inopportune moments tries to take the steering wheel away from the she-Captain.
Katya Beyko
Kherson-Ireland
In Ireland, there is a very nice tradition of attaching doors to trees. In this way, trees become like houses of elves and gnomes. The author wants to create a project in Ireland called “Doors to the World of Polina Raiko” by placing doors on trees behind which are fabulous drawings of grandma Polina.
Andrew Skripka
Kerch – Kharkiv
Olena Afanasieva
Kherson – Ternopil
An annual festival with carnival elements in Oleshky, Polina Raiko's hometown. Carnival costumes are based on Polina Raiko's characters and Ukrainian mythology. The apogee of the carnival is breaking a huge piñata in the shape of a black raven, which was a symbol of trouble and evil fate for Polina Raiko. In this way, we symbolically destroy evil and remember Polina Raiko, who turned her hard life into vibrant art
Andrew Skripka
Kerch – Kharkiv
Therapeutic installation and practice
The author says: “ The principles that Polina Raiko used in her work helped her to live despite the loss of her family and friends. Perhaps it's time for me to think about these matters very deeply! I see my art project on a 2x2 meter canvas. This is a full-length drawing of a loved one who is no longer there, so that I can say what I didn't have time to say and talk through my grief. In fact, this is a therapeutic practice. Polina herself talked to her sisters and her husband in this way.”
Alexander Pechersky
Kherson
“Cultural pumpkin” for the occupiers.
These pumpkins grew in Kherson and were painted by Kherson artist Oleksandr Pechersky based on the drawings of Polina Raiko. It looks very symbolic, because in old times, Ukrainian girls gave pumpkins to unwanted suitors as a sign of rejection. Kherson residents “gave a pumpkin” to the Russian occupiers in 2022, and now they continue to give them a “cultural pumpkin.”
Nastya Kulyk
Vinnytsia
Polina's Leopards stickers.
Polina Raiko was very angry when people called her “leopards” “cats”. The stickers remind us that not everything is what it seems.
Kateryna Kondratieva
Ivano-Frankivsk
“A month in paradise”
A calendar challenge for a month. A challenge is announced on social media to practice art every day. The calendar offers short art / art therapy practices. This month is aimed at finding joyful feelings.
This calendar is similar in form and idea to the “Gardener's and Horticulturist's Calendar”.
Hanna Kysla
Kherson
A new variety of flowers
Author says:
“Today I saw that a Ukrainian breeder has dedicated a new variety of violets to the memory of the fallen Ukrainian Armed Forces soldier and poet Maksym Kryvtsov (the variety is called RUD-DALI, which was Maksym's call sign). In fact, it was my first thought to create a Raiko iris. In her drawings, there were only wild irises, yellow ones that grow in the floodplains of the Dnieper river, but there were also some near her house. This new variety of iris can be planted in an art therapy garden and distributed all over the world, because flower fans are a special “sect” of people who immediately buy something new.”
Olena Kayinska
Lviv
Pop up book “Polina Raiko's Paper Garden”
The book allows you to immerse yourself in the world of Polina Raiko, and not the fictional, fantastic world we know through her work only, but also in her real world, where there is a house and a garden as almost the only source of survival.
The pop up book has stickers to create your own vegetable garden. However, the book accompined with a set of real seeds also that can be planted in your garden, or near your house, or even on a windowsill.
On the pages of the pop up book there is a pond for Polina Raiko's fantastic fishes. The garden can be populated with birds.
The QR-code at the end of the book leads to an Instagram page where people can share photos of their paper and real gardens, thus creating a community that wants not only to learn about Polina Raiko's artwork, but also to understand the way of her living.
Hanna Kysla
Kherson
Author says:
“I propose an urn for ashes as a personification of the state of transition of the soul and body to the another world.
I would probably like one of these for myself. You can use it for flowers while you're alive, and then use it for its intended purpose.”
Max Afanasiev
Kherson
Form of memory: polycemetery
Author says:
“When Polina tended to the graves of her husband and son at the Oleshky cemetery, she did not just clear them of weeds and paint. She added something of herself: she painted flowers and strange plants, doves, crosses. This made me think of a new global trend that should become a new ritual in our lives like morning latte. The modern cemetery with its black granite monoliths of grief constantly reminds us of the death of friends and relatives, while it should remind us of their lives. The memory of loved ones should not focus on the short moment of death, but on the memory of life with its comic and dramatic twists and turns. The tribute to the deceased must somehow escape from the dark unified parallelepiped of the tombstone and come to a unique sculpture-image. I would like to see that today, in addition to the free choice of work, hobbies, gender, and civic position, we have a choice of the form of memory – not only an obelisk of death, but also a sculpture of life. I would like the burial place to look more like a garden of Eden than a geometric hell.”
Olena Mishina
Dnipro
Tetiana Auseklis
Dnipro
hair is gray
eyebrows are black
as eternity
A lily blooms in your heart
like a gentle wave of the river
the sandy shore caresses and flows
my thought is alive
my mermaid Polina
Olena Mishina
Olena Mishina
Uliana Galych
Ternopil
Polina draws joyful leopards
draws mustachioed leopards draws winged leopards
Her favorite colors are blue and green
and numbers are mostly odd
her silk shirts are patched and re-patched
this is how artists do it – this is how it is among artists
being your own worst enemy and best medicine
the cheapest market enamel Dnipro
– the sky is a little rusty in places
all the clocks with cuckoos are countdowns
all the local furniture is old and dusty
in the garden – unharvested pumpkins and undug potatoes
the air in the lungs swells with colors and suddenly cracks
Polina takes up her brushes
the internal ice is melting slowly
What about autumn? What's that silver frost between the trees?
What is it outside her windows? – the noisy capital
no one is around – only the dead sail away on moonlit triremes
it is too scary to remember their names and faces
It is too hard to carry this burden forward
looking around at the neighbors and vague signs
one of the sisters in the portrait comes to life and picks up her scissors
and you don't want to know what happens next
you don't want to listen to leopards crying and seagulls squawking
the wind howling in the rafters of the family house
She doesn't say goodbye to us
She won't say goodbye to us
Who should be good?
Polina has a secret hiding place on the back of her mirror
either an exit to the afterlife or an exit to the museum
When she goes on, she is not very enlightened or spiritual
she will be accompanied by leopards
along with their human sons
Roksolana Dudka
Poltava
“Polina Raiko's leopard”
VR - Roksolana Dudka
AR - Vartan Markaryan
The virtual sculpture, woven from Polina Raiko's drawings, opens the door to a fantasy world where every stroke and line comes to life in a three-dimensional spatial form. Recreated with incredible detail, it attracts with its realism and transforms the viewer's imagination. This work, which focuses on the intersection of art and technology, not only recreates the artist's creative legacy, but also transforms it into an interactive experience that allows you to feel the incredible power of Polina Raiko’s art.
Use this link with Instagram to see “Polina Raiko's leopard”:
Use this link with Instagram to see “Polina Raiko's leopard”:
Nastya Kulyk
Vinnytsia
A kite festival, only in the form of fish, leopards, bears, and angels by Polina Raiko. It is advisable to organize the festival simultaneously in several cities of Ukraine and in the gardens of Polina Raiko.
Max Afanasiev
Kherson
“ Tarragon”. An opera about the life and work of Polina Raiko.
Tarragon sounds in Ukrainian as “Tarhun”. Although tarragon is a type of wormwood, it is not bitter. Tarragon is used for pickling cucumbers, tomatoes, and mushrooms. However, there are no recipes цшер tarragon among Polina Rayko's notebooks. There is only one word – “Tarhun”. Perhaps she saw the label of a green carbonated drink called “Tarhun”, which is made with this herb. This word attracted her. Why?
Kosta Aleninski
Sumy
About the author: Kosta Aleninski is an active participant in the process of renaming streets, working with toponymy in Sumy.
There is a whole “art district” on the map of Kherson. Previously, it was formed by streets named after Aivazovsky, Kramskoy, Shyshkin, Shovkunenko, Bryulov, and Levitan. Now, instead of Shyshkin, there is Burliuk Brothers Lane, and instead of Levitan, there is Polina Rayko Lane. The Artists' Square is in the center of this neighborhood is, and with such toponymy, it's a sin not to think about its restoration in the artistic spirit.
The artist explains why Polina Raiko should be the brand of the Kherson art quarter:
“It is difficult to connect “big” artists to the village. The private sector is Raiko's element, so she is the flagship in this company. Here you can recreate her house (at least partially) and use elements of her paintings for the street itself, for example, to make original house number plates. One such house on Polina Raiko Lane can become a catalyst for changing the entire neighborhood and a center of new life: the house can be turned into a creative space, an artistic residence. And nearby, in the Artists' Square, you can hold theater performances, create sculptures and land art.”
Hanna Kysla
Kherson
Author says:
“I wanted to offer you some cookies. I remember you saying that you were able to save Polina's recipe books. Maybe there is a recipe for cookies in there? As for me, there is nothing more eternal than this iron cookie box, in which, after the cookies, everything necessary (and not necessary as well) is stored. It often happens that even when a person dies, the box lives on for a long time.”
Olena Mishina
Dnipro
A birdhouse-feeder for large and small birds.
It would be interesting to see the meeting of two bird worlds – birds painted by Polina Raiko and real birds.
Olena Mishina
Dnipro
“Saint Polina”
Margarita Bolgar
Kherson region
The author says:
“I was stuck thinking about Polina Raiko's Seeds. It seemed to me that it was some kind of higher math. I was so sad because I wasn't getting it… So I went to the store and bought beer and fish. I think I had a little too much to drink. And I saw Polina Raiko in my dream – she was in headphones, she was cheerful and she said something. In the morning I had an epiphany. Her husband and son liked drinking, so this dream could be her message. I think Jesus on a can of beer could have given me an epiphany before I bought alcohol. It is a beer I would buy today.”
Olena Afanasieva, curator:
“The real seeds of Polina Raiko are not fictional, not contrived. It's when she comes to you when you need her, comes with all her hard life experience, but she is cheerful. She comes to inspire and heal you. Love Polina in yourself, not yourself in Polina.”
Kateryna Kondratieva
Ivano-Frankivsk
100 portraits
Polina Raiko made her last drawing in the winter of 2004. She found the last unpainted surface in her house; it was the backside of a mirror. On the backside of the mirror she painted self-portrait, in which she is young and beautiful. And she left quietly.
The art event “Self-Portrait on the Back of a Mirror” is a mystical opportunity to talk to Polina.
Polina Raiko
Oleshky
Self-portrat
Tetyana Adamenko
Dnipro
When I talk about Polina Raiko
I start almost the same way
“imagine, she started painting at the age of sixty-nine!”
and the people I'm talking to are like wow
interest appears in their eyes
and I suddenly feel a little embarrassed
as if the previous sixty-eight years had meant nothing.
there was an elderly woman
(four classes of education granled hands by work)
in the private sector of former-Tsiurupinsk
where there was no privacy at all
everyone knows that “the husband drank and the son drinks binge
he took everything out of the house and now he is in jail
the daughter was normal, but the car
crash
accident
and now she's gone off the rails
she's been painting tombstones
she paints the house and sings
but don't tell her I told you
because Polina can be dishonesty
she may curse
who does enamels in this house anyway?
it smells terrible.”
that is, the woman was living the ordinary life
of Ukrainian woman born in 1928
and then she surged!
and fish swim along the walls
turtles are rowing
mountains are rising
flowers dance with cherubs on the ceiling
husbant goes on an eternal happy fishing trip
a black crow claws a chick
turkeys and hoopoes bloom
angelic sisters sing in unison
mermaid flows her beautiful hair
the black dog sniffs suspiciously at the guests
and the guests are so wow
and she knows how to turn life into art
all sixty-eight years
how to turn pain into joy
what a complicated alchemy
Polina, please,
can you teach me?
