The Ukrainian Museum Seeks to Sustain an Independent Nation’s Cultural Identity

A quiet resistance is taking place on East 6th St. at the Ukrainian Museum. It is not the type of conflict that has fixed the world’s attention on the Russo-Ukraine war, which has taken the lives of 43,000 Ukrainians and wounded 370,000 soldiers, as reported by that country in December 2024, and a reported 600,000 Russian dead and wounded casualties.

The fight in which the museum is engaged is of a different nature, but one profoundly significant to it and the Ukrainian people. It is to preserve and protect Ukraine’s cultural heritage in a downtown enclave in the city that has long been a home to many from that embattled country.

The museum’s role as an important cultural hub for Ukrainians was highlighted in September, 23, 2024, when president Volodymyr Zelensky, who was in town for the UN General Assembly, stopped by to visit with Peter Doroshenko, who has been the museum’s director for the past two-and-a-half years.

The museum is in the heart of the East Village, the home of approximately 55,000 Ukrainian Americans between E. 14th St. and Houston St. The beating heart of the community is in the subset of the East Village known as “Little Ukraine” more less concentrated between First and Third Avenues and E. 6th and E. 7th Streets.

The museum helped anchor an ethnic neighborhood identity when it moved to its current site at 222 E. 6th St. in 2005, moving from its original home on E. 12th St. and Second Ave. when it first opened in 1976. St. George’s Ukrainian Catholic Church founded in 1946 by the Basilian Order, is across the street on this quiet, mostly residential neighborhood. One of the area most popular Ukrainian dining spots, Veselka Restaurant is not far away at 144 Second Ave.

The traditional role played by the museum has been to promote and preserve the cultural, artistic, and historic heritage related to life in Ukraine. It celebrates Ukrainian culture, promotes an understanding of Ukrainian culture and history, and engages in discussion about what and who is genuinely Ukrainian. It presents Ukraine as a multiethnic country which includes Tartars, Hungarians, Poles, and a large Jewish community.

Zelensky was there to highlight the opening to two important exhibits that were slated to run from September through Jan. 19: Volia: Ukrainian Modernism, and Alexandra Exter; The Stage is a World.“Volia” is a Ukrainian word which translates to “freedom” and also denotes a longing for freedom. Exter, dubbed the “avant-garde Amazon,” created work in diverse media but maintained a connection with Ukrainian art and culture. The exhibit explores her pioneering career from 1913 to 1934.

Together, the exhibits further the museum’s “decolonization” efforts, Doroshenko said, by highlighting the authentic culture and artistic history of Ukraine. The aim, he says is distill genuine Ukrainian culture from what Doroshenko calls the “cultural imperialism” by Russia.

Doroshenko started at the post right after the war began three years ago. He has previously served as the Executive Director at the Dallas Contemporary Art Museum and President of the Pinchuck Art Centre in Kyiv. The museum’s role, according to Doroshenko, has been placed on “fast forward” since Russian invaded Ukraine in late Feb. 2022.

The Russian view that Ukraine does not have an independent identity and is part of Russia is a “fantasy,” said Doroshenko. One of his aims at the museum, he says, is to present the historical truth of the separate history, identity and culture of Ukraine by stressing the history of its folk art. The museum has the largest collection of Ukrainian art works in the country.

“Volia” is a Ukrainian word which translates to “freedom” and also denotes a longing for freedom. Exter, dubbed the “avant-garde Amazon,” created work in diverse media but maintained a connection with Ukrainian art and culture. The exhibit explores her pioneering career from 1913 to 1934. Together, the exhibits further the museum’s decolonization efforts, highlight the authentic culture and artistic history of Ukraine, and distill that from what Doroshenko calls the “cultural imperialism” that has attempted to appropriate Ukraine and its culture.

He views a big role of the museum is to attempt to “decolonize” Ukraine of what he calls “Russian imperialism” and identify those aspects of its culture that are authentically Ukrainian.

Though the museum tries not to present programs that are overtly political, Doroshenko said that it is difficult to avoid the context of the current Ukrainian experience. A sculptural work by Molly Gochman, UKR/RUS, currently installed at Asher Levy Park in Brighton Beach, depicts the physical destruction and loss of human life caused by the war’s impact on the country. Shaped in the form of a bench, the sculpture draws an outline of the Russian Ukrainian border as recognized by Ukraine and international law. Doroshenko said that at a recent gathering “people were talking about their experiences and how they got out of the country. It was a very moving experience. It was unexpected.”

As in previous times of strife in Ukraine, many Ukrainians have sought refuge in New York City since the war and many have used St. George’s Church and school as touchstones. Dozens of refugee kids enrolled in the school.

Doroshenko said that the Ukrainian diaspora has accelerated in a “big way” as a result of the war. The United States has extended protection to Ukrainians displaced by the current war, granting them Temporary Displacement Status. An estimate of approximately 250,000 immigrated at the turn of the last century, followed by another influx after Ukraine was defeated by the Soviet Union during the 1917-21 war were the source of the biggest Ukrainian population surges over the past 125 years. Other influxes came after World War II and after the fall of the Soviet Union. There is also a growing and sizable Ukrainian community in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, with which the museum has organized a number of events and exhibits.

Doroshenko notes that the community is proud of the support it has received from “New Yorkers and the country, and that they have stood up for the word freedom, which is a powerful word for Ukraine.”