Who is that little girl?

You may wonder who is the little girl in the picture and why is she there? The answer is clearly found in this photograph, this little girl’s beautiful story is the story of this Museum and its Branches.

Look at her face. What do you see? We see someone with pride, with determination, with inner strength. We feel her indomitable spirit. Think of what she faced at such an early age: leaving her homeland and its problems, traveling across countries, wars, and an entire ocean to a home somewhere else. Leaving family and friends behind. 

This is someone who knows where she is going and who will always remember where she has been. This is someone whose spirit cannot be broken; whose pride in her culture her background, her faith, will never waiver. It is a part of her. When you gaze at this little face you can see so much more and look at those boots, they’re much too big for her now. Look again at her eyes do you have any doubt that she’ll grow into those boots?

When you first see this little girl’s face you can sense her character and our collective identity when you think of all the people that have preserved our culture. This child was in every person who taught dancing and music, directed choir, taught Sunday school. This child wrote pysanky and learned to embroider by lamp light. She was in awe of the icons in her home and church. She loved sviaty vechir and often wore hand me downs. She is the child in us, and in every one who came before us. That’s where we’ve been but it’s also who we are, and it’s also where we’re going.

Even if she doesn’t know exactly where she’ll end up as this photo is being taken, there can be no doubt she is heading bravely into the future. Her chin is up. Her gaze is direct. Her pudgy little hands are placed squarely on her hips. She is not edging cautiously into the future – no, she is marching forward, head held high. (Scroll up to see the full picture).

This little girl represents the Museum. There were many people behind her and many yet to come. She’s wearing boots and those boots were made for walking a lot of miles. She is our connection, she is our child. We must nurture her and protect her. We must protect her indomitable spirit. At the Ukrainian Museum of Canada we are guided by the people in the archival photographs we collect. We think about people’s stories. How they grew into their boots, how they kept their culture, their faith and their heritage, no matter what the challenges. We consider the story the picture tells us, because it’s our story too and it belongs to all of us.