Open. Here Is Ukraine

We invite you to visit the installation “Open. Here is Ukraine” — a bookshelf decorated in the Petrykivka painting style. 

Inside, you will find Ukrainian books and a children’s corner with a little ginger cat — a true doorway into the world of our culture. 

Look. Read. Feel. 

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“Open. Here is Ukraine” is a cultural and educational installation in the form of a bookshelf, designed as the door of a traditional Ukrainian house and decorated in the UNESCO-recognized Petrykivka painting style, created by artist Kateryna Bukhvalova. 

Inside are books that invite readers to immerse themselves in Ukrainian literature, history, and culture, as well as a children’s corner filled with books for the youngest visitors, guarded by a little ginger cat — already nurturing in them a taste for good reading. 

Look. Read. Feel. 

The goal of the project is to draw attention to Ukrainian books — to make them visible and accessible in libraries and cultural spaces across Florida. “Open. Here is Ukraine” seeks to become a doorway into a world where everyone can touch the depth of the Ukrainian word. 

As Lina Kostenko once reminded us: “Nations do not die of a heart attack. They first lose their language.” 

That is why this project is not only about books, but also about awakening and preserving national identity. 

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Solomiia is a Ukrainian from the Lviv region. 

Already in her school years, she developed a love for literature, especially the poetry of Lina Kostenko, and discovered the richness of Ukrainian art, traditions, and culture. 

Her first emigration to Prague brought valuable life experience and opened new horizons. Yet her true sense of identity was awakened during her second emigration to the United States, where she began to deepen her knowledge and actively promote Ukrainian culture and literature. 

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