About the project
NYTKY is a community project centred around traditional Ukrainian embroidery, its current journeys and new meanings. It brings together heritage education, art therapy and community building.
Against the background of an ongoing war and forced migration, people develop practices of resilience and hope, that take inspiration in rich cultural heritage they feel connected to. One of such practices is traditional embroidery, which has a long history and an important place in Ukrainian culture. In past centuries this art has experienced periods of imperial oppression, partisan existence, and nationwide revival, especially in the years after the Ukrainian independence in 1991.Today, this art becomes a source of new meanings and imagery. Many people turn to this democratic practice to ground themselves, seek strength in the experience of generations of people who created and wore it before, and give visual shape to their feelings and hopes.
Our aim is to engage broader and diverse publics in learning and actively practising traditional Ukrainian embroidery as a form of contemporary expression. This is achieved through the educational workshop series, designer collaborations, and the establishment of community embroidery circles. The NYTKY project is created for Ukrainian residents in the Netherlands, as well as local audiences interested in embroidery, cultural heritage, and textile arts. Since October 2024, we have conducted 23 workshops and 10 sessions of embroidery circles at 9 residence locations and cultural institutions in the Netherlands and have many more planned.
Our approach
Many people who fled their homes in Ukraine and arrived in the Netherlands could only take on this sudden trip their emergency bags. It is remarkable that in some of those bags embroidery kits and projects have also travelled to a new country. The community project NYTKY had started with a group of such people, who have taken their embroidery practice on a complex journey.
For us, embroidery is an artistic and therapeutic method to create a ritual space of care, give visual form to resilience, and connect to each other and the world around. At the same time, for a large number of Ukrainians residing in the Netherlands and other countries, embroidery represents a cherished heritage and a source of pride, that they, however, do not practise themselves and also have limited knowledge about. The commercial prevalence of machine digital embroidery has led to a decline in hand embroidery skills and knowledge, resulting in a divide between professionals, historical experts, and a relatively small yet growing community of amateur practitioners. With the revival of traditional hand embroidery as a mode of Ukrainian cultural expression, as well as a form of art therapy that helps people to cope with trauma and current challenges, a much larger group of people can learn about it and start to actively practice this art.
The title NYTKY, which means 'threads' in Ukrainian, symbolises the myriad connections that displaced people maintain with places, people, and traditions. As the needle moves across each stitch, the Ukrainian embroidery tradition travels with its people, entering new contexts and territories. More individuals turn to embroidery to reconnect with their identity, further enriching the tapestry of cultural heritage. We invite people to explore the Ukrainian embroidery tradition, its cultural significance and rich meanings. Our aim is to provide insight into the enduring relevance of this art form across different periods, illustrating its capacity to articulate complex experiences, both historical and contemporary. Through NYTKY, the participants gain an understanding of traditional embroidery practices and their application in historical and modern activism, including decolonial and feminist efforts. Most importantly, the project highlights and engages with new developments in Ukrainian embroidery since the beginning of the war in 2022.
Starting from traditional practices, we engage people in actively creating culture, inspiring them to use and adapt traditional embroidery patterns to reflect on their own experiences, values, and aspirations. Through the journey of learning, personal reflections, and collaborative design practices, project participants develop their unique visions of embroidery heritage, its significance, and its contemporary potential. These insights are then applied in their artistic endeavours, allowing for personal expression and innovation within the realm of embroidery.
The NYTKY project has therapeutic and community building objectives. It uses the potential of embroidery medium to relieve stress, and the power of creative self-expression to channel complex and traumatic experiences. Organising creative group workshops, where people collectively discuss and give artistic shape to their feelings and values, the project aims to build connections between them.To facilitate the growth of these connections into long-term support networks, we establish community embroidery groups where participants can continue to gather, practice embroidery, and engage in various activities. These groups also serve as platforms to welcome new members into the community. Through the NYTKY project, we seek to activate Ukrainian embroidery as a contemporary form of self-expression and ongoing cultural creation.
Team
Tetiana Goriunova (embroidery instructor/workshop leader) is a designer and sewing technologist from Kyiv with many years of experience in traditional Ukrainian embroidery. She has been professionally creating multiple embroidery designs and traditional clothing, working with groups of craftspeople and organising and coordinating professional embroidery workshops.
Karolina Uskakovych (artistic director) is a multidisciplinary filmmaker, designer, and artist from Kyiv. She graduated from the Non-Linear Narrative master's course at The Royal Academy of Arts, The Hague. Her art practice examines the entanglement of nature, culture, and technology. Since 2021, she has worked as the art director of the Anthroposphere: Oxford Climate Review magazine and has been a member of the Digital Ecologies research group.
Katya Borisova (researcher/coordinator) is a researcher, creative producer and organizer working at the intersection of art, activism, and social practice. She enjoys setting up projects that draw attention and resources to structurally overlooked things, such as repair, migrant labour, cleaning work or waste streams, and give people motivation and instruments to start changing the world around them.She has a background in anthropology and had previously worked on exhibitions with several ethnographic museums and organised projects at AHK. After founding Thick Present, she has focused on activists and socially engaged projects like Repair Futures, Wasteland Festival, NYTKY and Wayfinding.
Nadiia Haran (workshop assistant) is a textile designer from Dnipro. With a background in engineering, she is currently rediscovering her path in the field of fashion and textile. She is interested in Ukrainian traditional embroidery as a way to reclaim and fight for her own identity and heritage, which is directly linked with Ukraine and not imposed by Russian colonialism.
Nika Dundua (workshop assistant) is an artist, designer, and scenographer based in The Hague. With a background in social theater, today she explores spatial narratives, particularly how politics, history, and memory shape both visible and invisible spaces. She is currently doing a Master’s course at INSIDE at The Royal Academy of Arts in The Hague.
Olga Tikchonova (photography, social media) is a textile artist and fashion designer from Kyiv, who had to move to Amsterdam since the beginning of the war. She works with felt and creates author's clothes from other natural materials. She collaborates on intercultural projects with artists in the Netherlands.
Polina Reznychenko (embroidery circles) is a textile enthusiast with an academic background in marketing and fashion/textile design, she is working with visual identity and sustainability research within the fashion industry while practicing handcrafted techniques such as weaving, embroidery, knitting, etc. Her main interest is lies in combining traditional crafts and their application in a modern environment, the psychological aspect of consumption, and awareness of sustainable choices in life.
UZVAR collective is a student-led charity group, funded by Ukrainian and international KABK students shortly after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation on 24 February 2022. It includes Karolina Uskakovych, Nika Duduna, Stefaniia Bodnia, Alyona Ciobanu, Vlad Omelianenko and Anastasia Troshkova.
Vlad Omelianenko (website)
Part of Uzvar Collective, graphic design student of The Royal Academy of Arts in The Hague.
Contacts
Instagram: @nytky_project
Email: info@thickpresent.com