Exhibitions

UKRAINIAN ODYSSEY

Etchings by Volodymyr Bakhtov for the poem by Lina Kostenko
«UKRAINIAN ODYSSEY. Etchings by Volodymyr Bakhtov for the poem by Lina Kostenko»
The Treasury of the National Museum of the History of Ukraine invites you to make an odyssey moving along artistic, literary and historical trails, which lead from ancient to modern Ukraine.

https://bakhtov.com.ua/art/volodymyr/etchings/scythian-odyssey-lina-kostenko/

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The exhibition is made around etchings by Volodymyr Bakhtov – the Honored Artist of Ukraine, a member of the National Union of artists of Ukraine and the holder of the silver medal in the nomination «Graphics» for the series of etchings from the cycle «Small Rivers of Ukraine» from the «Grand Palais» Paris Salon. Since the time of Homer, the main feature of an odyssey as a form of a journey has been its ending: despite ordeals, the protagonist finally returns home. Volodymyr Bakhtov has had his own life odysseys: a trip along large and small rivers of Ukraine, a participation in the expedition across the Black and Mediterranean Seas aboard the Ivlia ship, a modern reconstruction of an ancient Greek bireme.  He and his wife, the artist Tetiana Bakhtova, repeated the route overland after a full-scale invasion started.
The exhibition is some sort of return home. Since 24.02.2022 the Bakhtovs’ House, a house and studio created by Volodymyr and Tetiana not far away from the ruins of the ancient city of Olbia near the village of Parutyne in the Mykolai oblast, have been under constant threat of destruction.
Nevertheless, the author’s etchings keep his creative spirit in Kyiv, the heart of Ukraine, while he, like millions of Ukrainians, has to stay abroad.
Lina Kostenko’s poem-ballade «Scythian Odyssey», published by the «Lybid» publishing house in 2020, was illustrated with the etchings created under the influence of interpreting the ancient codes of Ukraine. The protagonist of «Scythian Odyssey» was making a trip and sank in the Supii-river, a tributary of the Dnipro, with his goods – bronze vessels. Unlike the poem’s character being fictitious, the bronze vessels are real. Some of them are on display.
A long odyssey of Ukraine in search of self-identity and struggling for freedom and independence has always been an ordeal. Few nations on Earth paid so dearly for the right to live freely on their own land. However, the Ukrainians find the strength to revive again and again. One of the sources of this strength is a rich history of the people, who, in particular, hassome ancient elements in their genome. The cultural code includes a desire to work, learn and develop as well as an age-old longing for freedom.

TWO ODYSSEYS

Volodymyr Bakhtov & Lina Kostenko

The project ‘Two Odysseys’.
Volodymyr Bakhtov’s Odyssey & Lina Kostenko’s Scythian Odyssey’


The exhibition of etchings by Volodymyr Bakhtov and the presentation of the book to Lina Kostenko’s poem ‘Scythian Odyssey’ took place in Mykolaiv in 2021.
The book ‘Scythian Odyssey’ was published in 2020. Published by Lybid Publishing House. Kyiv.
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The project promotes historical values that are relevant in the times of Ukraine’s formation as an independent state. Not only politicians and historians are involved in this process. People of creative professions, including artists and writers, also have their own methods. Philosophical and mythopoetic visions of historical and everyday events sometimes influence the course of history and the search for self-identification of peoples more profoundly than direct historical events. After all, the ideas formulated by artistic methods are more imaginative and symbolic, and therefore more lasting in time. There are many examples of this. Suffice it to recall Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey.
Chronologically, the poem and the etchings were created in the same period independently of each other – in the eighties of the twentieth century. These were the poet and artist’s responses to the demands of the time. It was a time of renewed interest in the archetypes of the nation, a time of rethinking the relations between peoples.
The project is especially relevant today, as with the annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the military invasion in 2022, Russia has also taken away Ukraine’s ancient past, turning the sunny land of Herodotus’ travels into a zone of hatred and militarism
Illustrations to the book ‘History’ by Herodotus. Book Four: Melpomene. were created by Volodymyr Bakhtov in 1995. An album with them was published by the Hellenic Foundation for Culture in Odesa in 2006. Some of them were used as illustrations for Lina Kostenko’s poem.