When Yaroslava Tkachuk attempted to ship her painting Жінка (Woman) to the United States to be part of Amidst Cries from the Rubble: Art of Loss and Resilience from Ukraine , she learned that the bullet casings she had incorporated couldn’t be sent via mail. The Museum of International Folk Art, which is hosting the exhibition through April 20, 2025, found a military supply company in the U.S.
that sells used casings, due to the Ukrainian rules around shipping explosives and weaponry-related materials out of the country. Tkachuk removed the original casings and sent the art, then came to Santa Fe to affix the casings secured by the museum. Tkachuk is one of two featured artists — she’s coming from Ukraine, while Serhii Polubotko will visit from New York City, where he now lives — set to attend an opening ceremony this weekend.
Amidst Cries from the Rubble co-curator Laura J. Mueller, who serves as the museum’s deputy director, is proud of how quickly the museum pulled the exhibition together. “It’s in the daily news cycle,” she says of Russia’s attack on Ukraine.
“Most of our projects are two to three years in the making; this project was six months. The reason we’ve had such an amazing outpouring of support is because it is so timely. Every person we’ve gone to from day one, from getting it on the schedule to getting funding to make it possible for us to move forward, the support has been overwhelming.
Clearly, this is on everyone’s mind.” Am.