Interview with Sofika Zielyk
Sofika Zielyk, an American-born daughter of Ukrainian refugees, is a native New Yorker and a cultural diplomat. Using the ordinary egg as her diplomatic tool, she launched The Pysanka: A Symbol of Hope, A Living Installation of Ukrainian Easter Eggs in 2022, an initiative to encourage children and adults of all backgrounds, beliefs and ages to participate in a living installation of pysanky, Ukrainian easter eggs, by contributing their own egg, hand decorated using traditional Ukrainian techniques and motifs to the Ukrainian Institute of America in New York.
Sofika is world renowned artist celebrated for her remarkable pysanka; her work has been exhibited in major museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the American Museum of Natural History, and the Museum of Arts and Design, as well as in international cities, including Paris and Rome. In 1992, she was the first American of Ukrainian descent to exhibit work in Ukraine (Taras Shevchenko Museum, Kaniv; Taras Shevchenko Museum, Kyiv.) Her pysanky are in the permanent collections of the Ukrainian Museum in New York, The Ukrainian Museum and Library of Stamford in Connecticut, the Embassy of Ukraine in Washington, DC, American House in Kyiv, and the Pysanka Museum in Kolomyja, Ukraine. They can also be found in numerous private collections worldwide. In early 1993, she published a bilingual book, The Art of the Pysanka, in Ukraine.
Zielyk, a member of the prestigious Association of Folk Artists of Ukraine, became a 2014-2015 Fulbright Scholar, spending eight months in Kyiv, Ukraine researching folk art as the inspiration and muse for early 20th century Ukrainian artists. She holds a degree in Art History from New York University. Visit her website here.
JT: When I say ‘Ukraine’ what is the first word that comes to mind?
A feeling. An identity. I am a proud American-born daughter of parents who fled the communists and Nazis during WWII, spent time in displaced persons camps in Germany and then emigrated to the United States. As they embraced America and all she offered, they never lost their Ukrainian identity, its language, its art, its culture. So, Ukraine is always with me, deep in the core of my identity. Creating pysanky is an extension of that identity. I started when I was 5 with my mother, and my commitment to practicing the art and sharing it with others is my way of ensuring this Ukrainian art form, so much a part of my identity, continues and evolves.
JT: What is the significance of the eggs for Ukrainians? How does it differ region by region? Colours? Shapes?
It’s an ancient art form dating back to pre-Christianity times. Pysanky are created using the batik, wax-resistance technique; a single egg undergoes a multistage process to become a pysanka. Note: Pysanka is a single egg, pysanky are multiple eggs.
Creating pysanky was a yearly spring ritual meant to harken the return of the sun god and all of nature after a long and cold winter. A full raw chicken egg was used because of the yolk’s resemblance to the sun, and symbols were written, not painted, (they were letters to the sun god) on the eggshell in the hopes that the sun god would grant the wishes. Pine branches represented health, flowers were symbols of happiness, chicks meant fertility and so on. In ancient times, pysanky were written only by women, as winter was ushered out and spring brought the promise of new life.
When, in the 10th century AD, Volodymyr the Great adapted Christianity from Byzantium and installed it as the state religion of medieval Kyivan Rus, the predecessor of Ukraine, certain pysanky symbols changed to better fit the people’s new religion. The fish, once a sign of good harvest and health now represented the church. The equal sided cross, once the symbol of the sun god became the Christian cross.
Throughout the centuries the art of writing pysanky was lost in many areas of Ukraine. When the Russian Empire and then the Soviet Union subjugated Ukraine, it suppressed Ukrainian folk art and culture. The pysanka tradition survived in only certain parts of western Ukraine. However, it flourished in the diaspora as Ukrainian immigrants and refugees started to arrive in different countries. These adopted countries gave their new residents the opportunity to celebrate their heritage and this included creating pysanky.
When I was invited to have an exhibit of my work in Ukraine in 1992 after independence I said, “I am the daughter of grandparents and parents who came to the US for a new life. They safeguarded this tradition for decades and now it is my honor to bring it back to its place of birth.” It was a very emotional moment for me.
There is a legend as to why Ukrainians write pysanky. It starts with an evil monster who is chained in a cave in the Carpathian Mountains in Western Ukraine. Each year he sends out spies to see if people are creating pysanky. If they are, the spies return, and the chains are tightened. If pysanka aren’t being made, the spies don’t return to the cave, the chains would become looser and soon the monster would be free to roam and cause chaos and destruction.
And since only women were allowed to write pysanky, they carried the fate of the world on their shoulders. By writing pysanky each year, they assured that the evils of the world were not freed.
Today pysanky are collected, displayed as works of art and kept from year to year. In ancient times these eggs were not made to be kept or displayed. They had very ritualistic uses. They were talismans. Pysanky were buried in the ground to ensure a good yearly harvest. They were added to animal feed for healthier cattle; and pysanky with eternity symbols were placed in bee hives for the hopes of continuous honey. And designs on the eggshells were not artistically perfect as they are today. The patterns and symbols written on the pysanky expressed the desires of the women making them.
JT: As a cultural diplomat what is important to you?
To highlight and champion Ukrainian history, art, culture and language. My grandparents were the foundation of my understanding of Ukraine and its place in history. For them it was a nation struggling to emerge from its overlords, whether the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Polish Empire or the Soviet Union. We had books to study and read. I knew that Ukraine was not some mythical ideal; it was a proud nation with its own heritage, history, culture, and language.
JT: What is your favorite design and what’s the story behind it?
Each pysanka that I work on is my favorite at that moment. But one of my favorite legends associated with a specific pattern is the meander. The design is comprised of never-ending spiral swirls which symbolize eternity. According to legend, evil spirits become ensnared in this continuously flowing design and will never find the end because the lines are eternal. They will forever be trapped. roaming the endless maze. Watch a video here on how to make a pysanka.
JT: What inspired you to launch the ‘The Pysanka: A Symbol of Hope,’ an installation of Ukrainian Easter Eggs at the Ukrainian Institute in New York? How has it grown? What will happen to the eggs? Is there a particular one that has a special story?
When the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022, I experienced a range of emotions from shock, disbelief, sorrow, fear and then anger. It was in the anger stage that I realized I needed to do something. When a genocidal war is launched against another country, cultural diplomacy is very important. The enemy’s goal is to eradicate not only a geographic nation but also its cultural heritage and identity. I remembered the ancient legend--if pysanky are created, then the world and Ukraine will continue to exist. The installation is my response to the aggressor.
My partners in this project are the World Federation of Ukrainian Women’s Organization, of which I am the cultural officer, and the Ukrainian Institute of America. I put out a call on social media for people of different nations and religions, artists, children and adults, to send their pysanky to the Ukrainian Institute of American in New York. Within one week we received 3 pysanky from Montreal, Canada. As of today, the installation consists of over 1000 pysanky from 18 different countries. The pysanky are displayed close to the ground to symbolize the richness of Ukraine’s fertile earth. They lie on a large woven cloth and burlap. Ritual embroidered cloths (rushnyky), regarded as talismans, are placed around the eggs. Periwinkle, representing eternal life and health, adorns the burlap. Kalyna berries, representing beauty, are placed in front of the installation along with stalks of wheat symbolizing Ukraine as the breadbasket of Europe.
The response has really been overwhelming since the exhibit started. It is a living exhibit. The installation changes continuously as more and more pysanky arrive. Many pysanka donations arrive accompanied by incredible letters. One that stands out is from a woman who sent a pysanka which her mother made 60 years ago. Her mother now suffers from dementia and is unaware of the situation Ukrainians face, but the daughter insists that her mother would have wanted her precious pysanka to be given to the installation.
Many VIP’s and foreign governments’ representatives have visited the installation and made egg donations from their citizens to the growing collection, such as former Secretaries of State Hillary Clinton and Antony Blinken, General Manager of the Metropolitan Opera Peter Gelb, New York State Governor Kathy Hochul, and Oleksandra Matviichuk- recipient of the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize. The First Lady of Estonia personally brought her country’s version of an Easter egg. as did the speaker of the Polish sejm. The Foreign Minister from Guatemala donated 50 of his country’s Easter eggs, “cascarones.” These eggs are emptied and painted in colorful colors. The hollow shell is filled with confetti. During Easter celebrations they are broken on the recipient’s head showering them with confetti.
When the war ends and Ukraine is victorious, the pysanky from the installation will be shipped to Ukraine. We will travel to Bucha, Irpin, Kherson, Kharkiv, Kyiv, Mariupol and all areas of Ukraine that were affected by the war. The pysanky will be incorporated into the same rituals our ancestors practiced centuries ago. Only this time, instead of asking for the rebirth of nature and the sun god we will be aiding in the rebirth of the country.
JT: How has your perception of Ukraine and Ukrainians changed over time from 1992 to 2025?
Ukrainians are shedding the overcoat of Soviet mentality. It has taken time but they are emerging from hundreds of years of Russian/Soviet dominance to build a Ukrainian identity in a democratic, free nation. When I visited in 1991 just before independence, many Ukrainians were unfamiliar with foreigners. They didn’t look people in the eyes. They were quiet, taciturn even. Now they walk confidently, have eye contact when talking with you. They laugh. There is a new mindset. A new generation.
JT: What is the biggest need among Ukrainian people?
Ukrainians need all sorts of support. From weapons to war field health kits to clear skies. This is the modern-day version of the battle between David and Goliath and the world needs to support Ukraine to win. Former US Secretary of State Antony Blinken captured it well. “If Russia stops fighting the war ends. If Ukraine stops fighting, Ukraine ends.”
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Send your personal pysanky to be added to the exhibit at the Ukrainian Institute of America to:
The Pysanka Project
C/O The Ukrainian Institute of America
2 East 79th street
New York, NY 10075
USA