Museum teams in Ukraine often say their stock collections have grown during the war - although be it with tragic and heartbreaking items. With a reality as such, it is a real challenge to create something both meaningful and full of light. Something that can support us, raise our hopes, and give us a future to believe in.
Inspired by such a thought, a group of artists from different regions,connected through the Facebook page Aвторська лялька Мотанка (Author's Motanka doll), created authentic Ukrainian dolls "lyalka-motanka" which depict roles in the Ukrainian Army and other professions that have a special meaning for the importance in this war.
They worked on the project for about eight months, but even now more additions are beingcreated to add to the exhibition in Cherkasy Regional Museum of Local Lore. Each doll tells a story - sometimes as a personal request, a tribute to fallen heroes, or a way to share a deeply personal narrative through art. We talked to Tetyana Hrygorenko, a curator of the exhibit and senior research fellow at Cherkasy Regional Museum of Local Lore, who was the mastermind behind the exhibition.
"Each doll tells a unique story, representing not just a craft but a person, a moment, and a legacy. From fallen heroes to everyday resilience, each exhibition item captures the spirit of Ukraine nowadays".
When people think about traditional Ukrainian dolls like the lyalka-motanka, they usually picture them with wreaths or headscarves and fluffy dresses. In this exhibit, however, they are warriors and true heroes.
"Initially, we aimed to honour our armed forces and show respect to our heroes.
These dolls are all one-of-a-kind; 37 dolls were created with a total of 28 artists having worked on them. They were sent to us from all parts of Ukraine, but also from abroad, from Bulgaria, Poland, and Germany.
We made an annotation for each one of them. It's a short story about the craftswoman herself, and I asked them a few questions: Why did you take part in this project? What does this project mean to you, and how did you choose the prototype in the first place?"
Some artists created dolls dedicated to fallen heroes. One doll honours Andrii 'Juice' Pilshchykov
, a pilot whose heroism inspires Ukraine's fight for freedom.
Another, crafted by an artist from the Cherkasy Oblast, depicts Dmytro 'Da Vinci' Kotsiubailo
, a solider remembered as being a fearless leader. Next is a doll of an ordinary girl, a medic from Azov who was killed in Mariupol; also, there is a doll of Colonel Yevhen Pikus
.
Many dolls depict our women, but they are far from maidens or fairies. These women are soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and are in uniform: nurses and doctors, drone operators, gunners, and tankers.
One doll portrays a border guard and his loyal shepherd, Elsa, a real-life hero rescued from missile strikes near Lyman. Today, Elsa serves alongside the 3rd detachment of the Yevhen Pikus Border Troops.
Next, we have dolls based on our contemporary Ukrainian heroes who are still alive. This is our Cherkasy Oblast tanker, who destroyed more than thirty enemy tanks with the help of the infamous anti-tank system, Javelin, a Hero of Ukraine who destroyed nine tanks in one battle.
Then we have a diver from the 73rd Marine Centre of the Special Operations Forces from Ochakiv.
Our artists experience countless stories as they create these dolls.
One woman is an artist who works with ceramics and clay. She didn't know how to make a rug doll, so she made this ceramic Cossack Mamai and dressed him in camouflage. It's like a military musical theatre with an assault rifle instead of a sabre.
The artist who crafted the chaplain's doll shared her story: "During drone and missile attacks on our city, I hid with my children, holding onto the doll. I longed for the day the exhibition would open, worried a missile could hit at any moment, not only us but my art too."
A woman who used to make only girls and feminine dolls with beautiful flowers in traditional dresses created a doll in the image of a courageous man with a beard. This is her husband.
There is a wonderful girl who is only 8 years old. She created a doll representing her father, a soldier from Dnipro serving in the Third Assault Brigade, with the help of her teacher. In a heartwarming photo, she stands proudly beside the large doll she made.
"We have a doll whose prototype is two girls, tweens, that serve in Dnipro. Against the background of a S-300 missile system, the doll stands.
We have drones, we have drone pilots, and we also have our emergency services who are now our unarmed heroes. These workers save people during bombings and shellings and one of them is our Cherkasy Oblast resident. When rescue missions begun after the missile attack on the Okhmatdyt building [Children cancer ward]. It was he; he was the man in the photo that went viral. The artist called the doll based on him "tears for the innocent".
We also have one interesting character who came to us from Bremen, Germany. A prototype was a former director of the Poltava Academic Theatre. He perished during the war. But just imagine this: he came from Crimea and relocated a few times after the Russians took away his homeland. Whenever he went to a different city, he planted lavender near his house, his reminder of Crimea, home. He also embroidered and he taught some French embroidery techniques in Kyiv. He was a fashion designer and a puppeteer. When the war broke out, he threw in his job and voluntarily enlisted into Ukraine's defence unit as a cook.
The doll is captivating: it wears a bandana and glasses, and he sits there making dumplings. There is a frying pan with onions next to it. Children who come to the exhibition always want to grab a dumpling, but it is glued."
Some military units that have prototypes are aware of the museum's initiative. They met with a team, talked and learned some stories about the artists. And, of course, the heroes' relatives know about it too, so Juice's mother and Da Vinci's family know about the exhibition.
These dolls have already made their mark, sharing stories of courage and resilience far beyond the museum walls. While this collection remains a cherished part of the Cherkasy Regional Museum of Local Lore, the initiative continues. The museum and the Author's Motanka Doll group are already planning future exhibitions, exploring such topics as the Holodomor, the cultural identity of Crimea, and Ukraine's traditional motanka dolls.
These initiatives will continue celebrating Ukrainian authentic craft while addressing the important pages of our history.
All photos are courtesy of the Cherkasy Regional Museum of Local Lore.