Ukrainians in the United States Support Their Motherland

On May 4, 2022, the Volunteer Centre of Ivan Horbachevsky Ternopil National Medical University received humanitarian aid weighing 150 kg from Oksana Tanasiv (née – Sydorko), who now lives in New Canaan (Connecticut, USA). It brought together concerned diaspora and US citizens. Together, they managed to purchase and send to TNMU antipyretics, painkillers, dressings for individual military first aid kits, dressings for operating and antiseptics for military hospitals, medical equipment to provide assistance in case of emergencies.

Katya Greval, a physician at the New York Pulmonology Critical Care, worked on the selection of drugs and medical supplies in collaboration with the International Surgical Health Initiative.

We would also like to thank our compatriot Oksana Tanasiv, who is a successful Ukrainian-American contemporary artist, author of 400 paintings. She collaborates with galleries in New York, Miami and Europe. Oksana Tanasiv is a graduate of Chortkiv Humanitarian-Pedagogical College, Ternopil National Pedagogical University (majoring in Psychology), Western Ukrainian National University (majoring in Business Management), studied Focus on Communications & Business at UConn.

The artist is a participant in national and international art fairs, gallery exhibitions, creative events, namely Aqua Miami during Art Basel Week, Market Art + Design Hampton 2018, ArtExpo NYC 2012-14, Art Santa Fe 2010, solo and group exhibitions in Connecticut and New York. She experiments in the styles of neo-folk, realistic, surreal, pop art, and is the author of the Dollar Art concept collection, which shows a special view on social, political and economic issues.

Oksana Tanasiv successfully experiments with techniques and materials: oil, acrylic, watercolour, gold and silver sheet, epoxy, Swarovski® crystals, fabric, threads, paper, author’s stickers, collage techniques, oil embroidery, stencil, and others. Her art collections are represented by Art Galleria (NYC), Big Art Now (Palm Beach). The artist’s paintings were exhibited in the oldest Ukrainian Museum of America – the Stamford Museum, as well as in the Portuguese Museum Casa Museu Medeiros e Almeida (Lisbon).

From 2012 to 2017, Oksana Tanasiv was the artist of New York Fashion Week each season, where she presented paintings from the series Fashion Art, Couture Collection, Fashion Illustrations for visitors of Fashion Week in Waldorf Astoria, Crown Plaza (Times Square), NYC Fashion Week “Style” at Inteprid Museum, Wall Street, New Yorker Hotel.

“We truly thank Oksana for her open and kind heart. She has always been and remains a patriot of Ukraine, constantly maintains contact with her native Ternopil. She is very confused by the events in Ukraine, so she tries to convey true information to people, promote our culture and organize humanitarian aid,” said Marta Rudenko, Head of TNMU Centre for Educational Work and Cultural Development.

TNMU Press Secretary Yanina Chaikivska.

Photographs by Mykola Vasylechko.