„Matka Ukraina” – dzisiaj*

Abstract

MARIA POPRZECKA (University of Warsaw) / “Mother Ukraine” – today
The text is an attempt to refer to Prof. Waldemar Okoń’s article Matka Ukraina (Mother Ukraine), published in 1992 in his volume Alegorie narodowe. Studia z dziejów sztuki polskiej XIX wieku (National allegories. Studies in the history of Polish art of the 19th century), made in the context of the Russian aggression against Ukraine on 24 February 2022, the massive influx of Ukrainian refugees to Poland and the profound changes taking place in Polish-Ukrainian relations. The very special “Ukrainian renaissance” we are currently experiencing confronts us with difficult, perplexing tasks. One is how to evaluate the broadly defined 19th c. “Ukrainian school of Polish Romanticism”. This term is most often referred to a group of poets; however, it can be extended to all fields of creativity and to the entire 19th century. As the author proves, the study of culture is the study of powerful and timeless myths that elude successive methodological approaches or current ideologies. Therefore, the point is not to postulate a “reworking” or revision of the entire great heritage of “Mother Ukraine”, but to pose the questions: what should we do with the falsified, but ingrained in memory, in authentic emotions and traditions, very diverse images and artistic visions of Ukraine?