On July 1, 2024, the exhibition “The Universe at the Point of a Needle” opened in the premises of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Universal Scientific Library, prepared by the staff of Museum “Jewish Memory and Holocaust in Ukraine” and the Museum of Resistance to the Holodomor. The exhibition presents samples of unique embroideries, the authors of which were Ukrainian political prisoners of the Soviet totalitarian regime – Iryna Kalynets, Nadiya Svitlichna, Stefania Shabatura, etc., as well as traditional Ukrainian clothing that was used in Donetsk region in the early 1920s. The idea of ​​preservation and the reproduction of embroideries created in the conditions of Soviet camps belonged to public figure, artist and writer Lyudmila Ogneva (1936–2022), who devoted a significant part of her life to the popularization of the art of Ukrainian embroidery, as well as to the preservation of examples of Ukrainian monumental painting in her native Donetsk region. In particular, it was thanks to L. Ogneva that the works of Alla Gorska, located in Donetsk and Mariupol, were preserved and actually received a new life. Unfortunately, the heir of Soviet totalitarianism – the criminal regime of modern Russia is waging a genocidal war against Ukraine, one of the dimensions of which is the purposeful destruction of Ukrainian cultural heritage. It is in her that the aggressor sees a threat to his own imperial ambitions. Victims of the “Russian world” in 2022 were, in particular, the compositions “Tree of Life” and “Boryviter”, created by Alla Gorska, Viktor Zaretsky, Galina Zubchenko, Boris Plaksii, Hryhoriy Pryshedek, Vasyl Parakhin and Nadia Svitlichna in the premises of the former restaurant “Ukraine” located in Mariupol.

The exhibition presented to the public not only plunges into the world of Ukrainian tradition, but also points to the durability of cultural memory, which, despite all the efforts of both totalitarian regimes, spiritually connects different generations of the Ukrainian East. It is symbolic that the first tour of the exhibition was conducted by a craftswoman, public figure, co-founder of the public organization “Bakhmut Ukrainian”, student and associate of L. Ogneva, Mrs. Svitlana Kravchenko.

You can find out more about the exhibition, the history of its creation and its content from the story of the director of Museum “Jewish Memory and Holocaust in Ukraine”, Dr. Iryna Radchenko, and the acting director of the Museum of Resistance to the Holodomor, Dr. Oleksandr Sukhomlin, after watching the TV channel story “Vidkrytyi”. 

We invite you to visit the exhibition “The Universe on the Point of a Needle”, which is open for viewing in the building of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Universal Scientific Library (Dnipro, 10 Savchenko St.) until July 31, 2024.