Ukrainian art display shines through Saskatoon museum

A vibrant touch has been added to the windows of one of Saskatoon’s museums.

(Mia Holowaychuk/650 CKOM)

An art installation known as the Vikna Project is being displayed at the Ukrainian Museum of Canada.

“Vikna means windows in Ukrainian, so it’s really the window project,” explained Jen Budney, director of the museum.

Budney said the project was done in hopes of brightening up the building. The designs were made using a traditional paper-cutting technique by Ukrainian-Canadian artist Taras Lachowsky, who takes traditional Ukrainian forms and modernizes them.

The paper designs were blown up and pressed onto vinyl, allowing the designs to glow as sun passes through the museum’s windows facing Spadina Crescent.

(Mia Holowaychuk/650 CKOM)

“Each window is different, and if you spend time, you can see all sorts of symbols coming through,” Budney said.

Budney said the project cost more than $10,000 and was made possible through a grant from the city.

“I don’t know anyone else in Canada doing this kind of work,” she said. “We want to celebrate the vibrancy and the passion of Ukrainian culture.”

The pops of red, blue and yellow are already gaining attention online, according to Budney, who said hundreds of people are sharing images of the art project.

The Ukrainian Museum of Canada was established in 1936, and is Canada’s oldest Ukrainian museum. It features three galleries and a collection that holds more than 30,000 pieces of Ukrainian history.

It’s been more than 500 days since the war in Ukraine began, and Budney said since the Russian invasion, more people from different backgrounds are showing their interest in Ukrainian culture by going to the museum. Some of the new visitors are displaced Ukrainians themselves, she said.

“We need to uplift Ukrainian culture as Russia is trying to eradicate it,” Budney said. “We’re really trying to reawaken the museum, bring new life to it, and rethink what a heritage museum can be in 2023.”