1 year ago 🇷🇺 blew the Kakhovka dam. The beautiful house of artist Polina Raiko (died 2004) at occupied Oleshky (Khersonska oblast) was flooded and unique mosaics were ruined. The artist painted her whole house at the age of 69. 🧵
At first, it was a modest decoration of her property: she painted a white dove on the gate. A few years later, however, she expanded her work by painting her house, summer kitchen, fences, garage, and the graves of her relatives in the cemetery.
By the time she started painting, her daughter and husband had died, and her son was in prison. She used art as a fictional world to escape her difficult and unhappy life. She created her bizarre universe of angels, animals, portraits of her family, and Soviet symbols.
Oleshky is still occupied, making it impossible to access the works to evaluate the losses or the possibility of restoration. The founder of the Polina Raiko Art Heritage Foundation, Viacheslav Mashnytskyi, went missing during the occupation of Kherson. His fate is still unknown.
What is often called "Polina Raiko’s owls" are actually tigers from Soviet carpets. It's trendy image now – you can even buy silk pocket square handkerchief that wears Eva Green. It's collaboration between OLIZ brand and @U24_gov_ua for rebuilding 🇺🇦 oliz.com.ua/en/shop/kollek…
I believe that we can preserve memories and spread knowledge about Polina Raiko. We should spread the beauty despite the tragedy, as her whole life. For example, add her art to your home – grono.shop/eng/shop/na-st…
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