Three years after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the warfare is in a newly unsure and dangerous state amid shifting geopolitics. Whereas the ache of Ukrainians on the entrance traces and at house is uniquely acute, the Ukrainian diaspora watches anxiously from afar. In Maine, artist Lesia Sochor—born to Ukrainian immigrant mother and father—has discovered ballast creating works that channel her spiritual and cultural heritage.
In preparation for Easter, Sochor teaches workshops round New England, passing on the observe of adorning pysanky, uncooked eggs embellished with richly detailed patterns produced by wax resistance. In Ritual, she depicts her late mom—illuminated by the saintly glow of a single candle—utilizing the time-honored kistka software to use melted beeswax to an eggshell. Her mom’s hair is wrapped in a standard babushka, which in a sequence of works turns into an emblem of piety and resistance, an emblem of the everywoman or of Mom Ukraine herself.
In one other sequence, a easy spool of thread turns into an object for sacred contemplation. The gold disc which crowns the spool evokes a Eucharistic paten, whereas the skinny, crimson thread drops from the physique like a rivulet of blood or wine. Within the Bible—in addition to in later Jewish custom, particularly Kabbalah—a crimson thread or wire is an indication of safety. Within the guide of Joshua, the unlikely heroine Rahab ties a scarlet wire in her window on the behest of Joshua’s spies in order that she and her household could also be spared when the Israelites seize Jericho.
In Sochor’s palms, the crimson thread gives the same promise of perseverance and divine safety. It additionally raises the hope of restore, stitching collectively the items of home and neighborhood life.
