The Ukrainian Museum Seeks to Sustain an Independent Nation’s Cultural Identity

A quiet resistance is taking place on East 6th Street at the Ukrainian Museum. It is not the type of conflict that has fixed the world’s attention on the Russo-Ukraine war, which has taken the lives of 43,000 Ukrainians and wounded 370,000 soldiers, as reported by that country in December 2024, and a reported 600,000 Russian dead and wounded casualties.

The fight in which the museum is engaged is of a different nature, but one profoundly significant to it and the Ukrainian people: It is to preserve and protect Ukraine’s cultural heritage in a downtown enclave in the city that has long been a home to many from that embattled country.

The museum’s role as an important cultural hub for Ukrainians was highlighted on Sept. 23, 2024, when president Volodymyr Zelensky, in town for the UN General Assembly, stopped by to visit with Peter Doroshenko, who has been the museum’s director for the past two-and-a-half years.

The museum is in the heart of the East Village, the home of approximately 55,000 Ukrainian Americans between East 14th Street and Houston Street. The true heart of the community is in the subset of the East Village known as “Little Ukraine,” concentrated between First and Third avenues and East 6th and East 7th streets.

The museum helped anchor the ethnic neighborhood’s identity when it moved to its current site at 222 E. 6th St. in 2005 from its original home on East 12th Street and Second Avenue, where it first opened in 1976. St. George’s Ukrainian Catholic Church, founded in 1946 by the Basilian Order, is across the street in this quiet, mostly residential neighborhood. One of the area’s most popular Ukrainian dining spots, Veselka Restaurant, is not far away, at 144 2nd Ave.

There have long been ties between the embattled country and the United States, Doroshenko pointed out. An estimated 250,000 Ukrainians immigrated at the turn of the last century, followed by another influx after Ukraine was defeated by the Soviet Union during the 1917-21 war. Other influxes came after World War II and after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.

The traditional role played by the museum has been to promote and preserve the cultural, artistic and historical heritage related to life in Ukraine. It celebrates Ukrainian culture, promotes an understanding of Ukrainian history, and engages in discussion about what and who is genuinely Ukrainian. It presents Ukraine as a multi-ethnic country that includes Tartars, Hungarians, Poles, and a large Jewish community.

Zelensky was there to highlight the opening of two important exhibits that were slated to run from September through Jan. 19: Volia: Ukrainian Modernism, and Alexandra Exter: The Stage Is a World.“ “Volia” is a Ukrainian word that translates to “freedom” and also denotes a longing for freedom. Exter, dubbed the “avant-garde Amazon,” created work in diverse media but maintained a connection with Ukrainian art and culture. The exhibit explores her pioneering career from 1913 to 1934.

The latest exhibits over the past four months highlight the authentic, artistic history of Ukraine and further the museum’s “decolonization” efforts, Doroshenko said. The aim, he says is to distill genuine Ukrainian culture as a counter to what Doroshenko calls the “cultural imperialism” by Russia.

The Russian view that Ukraine does not have an independent identity and is part of Russia is a “fantasy,” said Doroshenko. One of his aims at the museum, he says, is to present and highlight the separate identity and culture of Ukraine by stressing the history of its folk art. The museum has the largest collection of Ukrainian art works in the country.

Doroshenko started at the post right after the Russian invasion three years ago. He previously served as the Executive Director at the Dallas Contemporary Art Museum and President of the Pinchuck Art Centre in Kyiv. The museum’s role, according to Doroshenko, has been placed on “fast forward” since Russian invaded Ukraine in late February 2022.

Though the museum tries not to present programs that are overtly political, Doroshenko said that it is difficult to avoid the context of the current Ukrainian experience.

Doroshenko said that the Ukrainian diaspora has accelerated in a “big way” as a result of the latest war. The United States has extended protection to Ukrainians displaced by the current war, granting them Temporary Displacement Status. It continues a long historical connection with the United States.

Many Ukrainians have sought refuge in New York City since the war and many have used St. George’s church and school as touchstones. Dozens of refugee kids enrolled in the school.

Due to the gentrification of the East Village area around Little Ukraine, there is also a growing and sizable Ukrainian community in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, with which the museum has organized a number of events and exhibits.

One sculptural work by Molly Gochman, UKR/RUS, currently installed at Asher Levy Park in Brighton Beach, depicts the physical destruction and loss of human life caused by the war’s impact on the country. Shaped in the form of a bench, the sculpture draws an outline of the Russian Ukrainian border as recognized by Ukraine and international law. Doroshenko said that at a recent gathering “people were talking about their experiences and how they got out of the country. It was a very moving experience,” he said.

Doroshenko notes that the community is proud of the support it has received from “New Yorkers and the country, and that they have stood up for the word freedom, which is a powerful word for Ukraine.”