One of the great mysteries of the human soul is how pain and suffering can lead to the creation of beautiful things: music, poetry, artwork. Sometimes, it happens quite unexpectedly. Polina Raiko was born in Oleshky, a small town in Kherson Oblast. She lived there her entire life, working the land: on a collective farm and in her own vegetable garden.

At the age of 69, she picked up a paintbrush and began painting naïve frescoes on the walls and ceiling of her house and outdoor kitchen, as well as on the fence, electric wires, and even light switches. She was driven to creativity by personal tragedy: her daughter died in a car accident, then a year later her husband died. Soon after, her son was imprisoned. Raiko’s grief poured out into her art.

Over the span of five years, Raiko covered all the walls and ceilings of her seven-room house with paintings. Images of fantastical creatures are interspersed with human figures: her husband in the afterlife with the new fishing rod he never got to buy, sisters of mercy, her relatives at a wedding, the Virgin Mary with a baby Jesus, and angels.

The house you see was created with the support of the Polina Raiko Charitable Foundation for the Ukraine WOW exhibition in 2019. Fortunately, it has been preserved, and you can admire leopard owls; whimsical fish and birds. The original house in Oleshky, Kherson Oblast, is currently awaiting its liberation from russian occupation.