You're reading: Group archives Soviet-era wall mosaics

Nearly 25 years after the breakup of the Soviet Union, Soviet-era monumental mosaics still draw attention along Kyiv's streets. But too often they are simply overlooked or ignored.

One art group plans to change this reality. The Izolyatsia art center is now exhaustively collecting photographs of Soviet wall mosaics throughout Ukraine for its online archive at www.ukrainianmosaic.org.

Soviet monumental art peaked in the 1960s, when building exteriors were adorned by elaborate mosaics that were meant to inspire citizens and glorify the country’s achievements.

Izolyatsia (Isolation) operated in Donetsk, but had to relocate to Kyiv in 2014 after the Russia-backed separatists took over the city.

Photos from Kyiv, Donetsk, Kharkiv, Mariupol, Poltava and several smaller cities are already on the website. The group running the project is working to create a complete and definitive digital archive of the mosaic works. They then hope to have the mosaics registered as cultural monuments in order to preserve them.

The project began when an employee at Izolyatsia, Liubava Illenko, started taking pictures of Donetsk mosaics in February 2014. Within four months she had put together a collection of photos for the entire oblast.

“It’s incredible that she managed to do it right before the war started,” says Yevheniya Moliar, the curator of the project.

Now the whole crew of Izolyatsia is involved in photographing mosaics throughout the country. There are no known comprehensive studies dedicated to cataloguing the Soviet-era mosaics thoroughly, so the team has been scouring Soviet-era architectural books in order to find out about the mosaics and their artists.

Mosaic artwork was popularly used in the Soviet Union from the time of Josef Stalin. When the general architectural building style became more minimalist in the 1960s and onwards, mosaics became particularly useful in decorating otherwise bland buildings and other structures. And they were also quite handy for carrying a message or a bit of propaganda and jingoism. A common mosaic often pictured a worker or an athlete surrounded by Soviet symbols. Mosaics of Young Pioneers frequently appeared on the walls of schools, with students portrayed holding books. But frequently, the artwork and craftsmanship itself was highly skilled and intricate.

When Izolyatsia members now take pictures of these mosaics, passers-by are surprised that they lived near these pieces of art for decades without ever really noticing them.

“Interaction is a very important part of the project,” Moliar says. “It helps people identify mosaics as pieces of art and causes changes in their attitudes towards them.” When people start recognizing the mosaics as important artworks, she hopes, they will also not let them be destroyed.

Kyiv photographer Maksim Belousov agrees that the wall mosaics are at risk of disappearing because building owners often tear them down or cover them with signboards and advertising.

One endangered work is a mosaic by Ada Rybachuk and Volodymyr Melnychenko on Central Bus Station in Kyiv. The building supporting it is expected to be torn down.

Another goal of the project is to change peoples’ attitudes toward Soviet art.

“We are witnesses of the de-sovetization of cultural and social life,” Moliar says. “We want to show that the monumental art of the Soviet period is a unique art phenomenon of the 20th century, an area where traditions and innovations were combined.”

The Izolyatsia art center invites everyone to participate in the project by sending in photos of local mosaics and their respective addresses to [email protected]. They will be added to the archive after verification.

Kyiv Post staff writer Yulia Sosnovska can be reached at [email protected].