On 22 May, the Andrey Sheptytsky National Museum in Lviv opened a large-scale exhibition project “Stefaniia Shabatura. Fire of Resistance“, bringing together for the first time almost the entire creative legacy of the renowned artist, dissident and Sixtier.
Before the opening, participants honoured the memory of the fallen Defenders of Ukraine with a minute of silence.
According to Oreslava Khomyk, a deputy of the Lviv Regional Council, Stefaniia Shabatura created tapestries that became manifestos, and the Soviet system destroyed more than two hundred of her works created in captivity, yet was unable to break her will.
In the first exhibition hall, tapestries, woven bedspreads, carpets and lizhnyks are on display. Particular emphasis is placed on the works “Cassandra” and “Lesia Ukrainka”, which at the time were seized by the Soviet authorities during the artist’s arrest and used as evidence in a criminal case.
The second hall is dedicated to graphics from the 1960s–1980s. Visitors can also see embroideries, sketches, personal letters, photographs and unique bookmarks created by Stefaniia Shabatura.
Stefaniia Shabatura was a Ukrainian artist, dissident and member of the Ukrainian Helsinki Group. In 1972, for anti-Soviet activities, she was sentenced to high-security labour camps and exile, and the KGB destroyed more than 200 of her artworks.