The Ukrainian Museum in New York marks its 50th anniversary: artist Molly Gochman turns its glass façade into a “memory collage”

The Ukrainian Museum in New York, located in the historic neighbourhood known as Ukrainian Village in Manhattan’s Lower East Side, celebrates the 50th anniversary of its founding this autumn. To mark the occasion, the artist Molly Gochman, known for her work with community, memory and personal narratives, brought to the museum her early project “Memory Collage: Materials from The Ukrainian Museum Collection”, as The Art Newspaper reports.

The installation was unveiled on September 26 and covers the glass-walled entrance, the windows and the museum lobby with large-scale reproductions of artefacts from the permanent collection. Gochman worked with the head of collections, Maria Rewakowicz, exploring more than 46,000 objects — photographs, documents, textiles and ceramics — that reflect the histories of Ukrainian immigration and its culture. On the day of the unveiling, the artist invited community members to bring personal items: fragments of fabric, letters, photographs, handwritten recipes or pieces of porcelain, which were scanned and projected on the spot; contributions are also accepted by email.

The museum was founded by the Ukrainian National Women’s League, and its collection began with the purchase of 600 pieces of Ukrainian folk art at the Chicago World’s Fair of 1933-34. Waves of Ukrainian emigrants — who escaped Tsarist pogroms, Bolshevik, Stalinist and Nazi persecution, and now Russia’s full-scale invasion — have left their mark on this institution.

Gochman, a descendant of family members who fled the pogroms in Talne, Ukraine, told The Art Newspaper that her aim was for passers-by to feel wonder when the windows “suddenly turn into stained glass” and to understand that Ukraine is “a very unique country, with its own culture and heritage” — not part of Russia. She was particularly fascinated by Ukrainian textiles and embroidery: “weaving creates so much strength… just as Ukraine is standing up to this monster [the war]”.

For its 50th anniversary, the museum is also strengthening its connection with the community through a new partnership with Cooper Union and a “reading rave” on October 17 dedicated to Ukrainian art publications. The Kyiv-born curator and cultural promoter Elena Siyanko said the vision places the museum “at the forefront of preserving and strengthening Ukrainian cultural agency”.