Today is a small thread about the great artist Liudmyla Semykina (1924-2021). I think I've never posted here any of her works. She was part of the Sixties movement and a friend of Alla Horska, Victor Zaretskyi, and Liubov Panchenko.
She was born in 1924 in Odesa. Her father held a high position in the local organization of the Communist Party, but refused to participate in the organization of the artificial famine, the Holodomor, and in 1932 he left the party. Then he worked as a carpenter.
In the early 1960s, she worked in paintings and participated with Alla Horska in creating the Creative Youth Club. With Horska expelled from the Union of Artists because of this artwork, Shevchenko here was considered a "nationalistic"
In 1968, she was expelled again for signing a letter protesting the repression of dissidents. This time, the actual ban on the profession lasted for two decades. Semykina could no longer receive government orders, participate in exhibitions, or earn money by painting.
Then, like many women artists who didn't want to be a part of the system, she found another way for her talent. She started to work as a fashion designer and costume artist for movies and theater.
And, like many Ukrainian women artists, you will not find much information about her. Hopefully one day all the stories and art will be heard and seen. This is one of my favorite artworks made by Semykina – a landscape from Polissya. She won Shevchenko Prize only in 1996.
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