“Oh, My Thoughts, My Thoughts…”: Olena Pchilka’s and Lesia Ukrainka’s Contributions to Epigraphic Embroidery

Abstract

The article focuses on the role of Olena Pchilka1 and Lesia Ukrainka in epigraphic embroidery development. Undoubtedly, Olena Pchilka was an ardent proponent of folk art purity. Following from this, there is a tendency to think that she was against all novelty in Ukrainian embroidery. Many researchers and antiquity enthusiasts refer to her authority when arguing against inscriptions on textile as a phenomenon resulting largely from printed cross-stitch on paper. However, not all embroidered verbal texts have been of print origin. Most of them were folkloric (or folklorized) texts. What is more, Olena Pchilka to some extent provided her own comment on epigraphic embroidery in approving Lesia Ukrainka’s rushnyk (embroidered runner) containing the inscription “Oh, my thoughts, my thoughts, woe is with you! Love one another, brethren, love Ukraine” (devoted to Taras Shevchenko). In modern embroidery, embroideresses reproduce the citation with new connotations of these words, thereby continuing the epigraphic embroidery tradition. The author illustrates the folklorization of oft-cited lines from Taras Shevchenko’s poetry with examples of epigraphic embroidery from her own Interactive Index of Folklore Formulas (Epigraphic Embroidery).

Keywords

• olena pchilka
• “ukrainian folk ornament”
• lesia ukrainka
• rushnyk
• epigraphic embroidery
• inscriptions
• cross-stitch papers