Mykola Bondarenko
"Ukraina 1933: Kulinarna knyha" ("Ukraine 1933: A Cookbook")
Mykola Bondarenko is in many ways the "odd man out" in this exhibition. In addition to being the only artist presented here who lived into the 21st century, he is also the only non-diaspora artist and the only one who created his Holodomor-related work after the renewal of Ukrainian independence in 1991. His approach to the Holodomor is completely different from the other artists featured here both in style and in content.The prints in the series "Ukraine 1933: A Cookbook. Human Memory" are particularly close to the UHEC's heart in that they, like us, sit at the intersection of the arts and the humanities. Although they are masterfully executed artworks, they can also literally be read as oral histories.
Bondarenko presents a very distinctive depiction of the horrors faced by the victims of the Holodomor. Instead of scenes of death, he focuses indirectly on the individuals who managed to survive by asking what was it that helped them cheat death while their relatives and friends perished?
In this series of 77 linocuts, he depicts the various plants and animals that people were forced to eat in order to survive. These are rendered in stark black and white lines with subtle watercolor accents set against a black cross shape (simultaneously recalling both the Christian Cross and a windowpane). Each one is accompanied by a short text identifying the plant or animal and describing how it was prepared for consumption.
"Corn"
Bare cobs of corn (without the kernels) were ground, put through a sieve, mixed with ground or crushed leaves of trees and water and milk (if there was any), and made into flatbreads.
Cornstalks were dried, ground, put through a sieve, mixed with water and used for baking flatbreads.
Such “cornmeal” was also cooked in boiling water to make porridge.
"Dandelions"
Dandelion roots and leaves were washed, chopped, salted, and made into a broth.
Roots were dried in the hearth, mashed in a mortar, added to boiling water, and set in a warm place to draw before drinking as a tea.
"Bird's Eggs"
People gathered various bird eggs from swamps, trees, and bushes.
The cumulative effect of these understated works is chilling: one cannot help but be horrified by the idea of being forced to eat grasses, thistles, burdock, corn husks, cats, dogs, baby birds, or the carcasses of farm animals in a desperate attempt to get enough calories to stay alive.
The "recipes" of this "cookbook" are based on actual first-hand accounts of elderly Holodomor survivors that he had heard as a child in the Sumy region (which was particularly hard-hit by the Holodomor). Thus, the artworks give voice to those survivors by providing windows into their lives during the Holodomor, and allow the residents of the rural regions of Ukraine (of which the artist is one) to reclaim their collective stories of the Holodomor period.
After this exhibition opened, we learned of a double tragedy. The first was that Mykola Bondarenko had passed away suddenly on June 3, 2023. As if to add further injury, it turns out that the "educational institution" in the city of Sumy that was hit in the Russian rocket attack on July 29 was the home of a local Holodomor Research Center that had in its collection a complete set of Bondarenko's "Cookbook" series. All of these were reportedly destroyed.
About the artist
Mykola Bondarenko was born in 1949 in the village of Dmytrivka in the Sumy region of northeastern Ukraine. He completed his professional studies in 1972 in Kharkiv. After graduating, Bondarenko moved to the village of Uspenky, located approximately 50 miles west of the city of Sumy, where he and his wife lived and kept a small farm until his death on June 3, 2023. He worked primarily as an artist and graphic designer, with his primary medium being the linocut. In addition to “Ukraine 1933: A Cookbook”, he created series of prints entitled “The Epic of Ihor’s Campaign”, “Shevchenkiana”, “My White House”, “The Ruined Temple”, and a portrait series of citizens of the Sumy region. His works have been exhibited in Ukraine, Russia, Poland, Slovakia, and the United States, and he took part in joint exhibits in Italy, Germany, France, Belgium, Great Britain, Bulgaria and Latvia.