Cossack Mamay
Unbreakable Patchwork
- Patchwork with Ukraine in our Hearts -
This summer, the walls of the Cultures Stable will be adorned with Ukrainian quilts. Through color, form, and tradition, the works convey Ukrainian culture and history, sorrow and hope for the future.
The Ukrainian Quilter’s Association was founded before the full-scale Russian invasion. Since 2017, its members have worked to showcase and share Ukrainian culture through quilting. When the war broke out, they faced a decisive choice: to stop or to keep creating. They chose the latter.
Creating then became a quiet but powerful form of resistance — a source of strength, motivation, and community in the shadow of war. The quilts carry stories of resilience and cultural identity, as well as the beauty of everyday life amid hardship.
Tetyana Bogachuk — Millstones
Cossack Mamay — sex meters long!
The centerpiece of the exhibition is the magnificent quilt The Cossack Mamay, measuring over 16 square meters, created by 47 Ukrainian quilters in exile across Europe. Their individual contributions have been joined into a cohesive whole. The design is inspired by Orest Skop’s painting of Cossack Mamay, a folk hero and symbol of Ukraine’s self-determination. In his hand, he holds his instrument, the kobza, here representing resilience through music and art.
Detail from Cossack Mamay
Blackout Quilts
The Cossack Mamay is accompanied by over 100 quilts, large and small, created by both award-winning textile artists and amateurs. Many of these quilts are known as “Blackout Quilts,” as they were made entirely by hand, without access to electricity or heating. Continuing to sew under such conditions became a testament to resilience and a reflection of the vital role art plays in people’s lives.
”Most important is that the war didn’t kill the quilter’s spirit, that humanity that we have inside and the will to continue that peaceful strategy of life in our artwork.”
In the exhibition, the magnificent Ukrainian flower crown created by the Swedish master blacksmith Linnea Lindgren is on display.
The Sunflower Quilt
The Sunflower Quilt is an international charity project in support of Ukraine. The initiator is the Australian artist Janno. She decided to collect quilt blocks created by people from all over the world, while also raising funds for Ukrainian art schools affected by the war.
Everyone is invited to contribute a quilt block measuring 31,5 × 31,5 centimeters in blue and yellow, or featuring the sunflower motif – the national flower of Ukraine. A symbol of hope, love, and peace.
Thousands of people from more than 36 countries are currently participating in the project. The goal is to assemble all the quilt blocks into a 1.1-kilometre-long quilt – the same length as Kyiv’s main street, Khreshchatyk. When the war is over, the quilt will be unrolled along the street. As a tribute to Ukraine and a sign of victory.
The quilt in the exhibition Unbreakable Patchwork is a section that will become part of the finished project.
Would you like to contribute? You are welcome to leave your quilt block with us, and we will make sure it is delivered to the project.