Not a refugee
By Navjyoti Dalal
Athlone’s cultural topography has changed to one with a vibrant diversity. For example, St Mary’s NS has pupils representing more than 50 nationalities. Clearly, Ireland, and Athlone have welcomed the immigrants in a way few countries or towns would. In this column, Home Is Where The Hearth Is, we shine the spotlight on the immigrant experience. And, as a cultural exchange, get them to share food recipes they hold dear. Our expat in focus this week is Mariia Holdysh from Ukraine. There’s more to this young artist and interpreter than her refugee status. We explore..
Twenty-three-year-old Mariia Holdysh uses Mutabor, a pseudonym, to sign her artworks. The strange-sounding artist name is Latin for 'a desire to change'.
Holdysh plucked it, like a flower, from her childhood while watching a televised version of Kalif Storch, a fairytale by Wilhelm Hauff.
"In the story the word 'Mutabor' has the power to transform you (into an animal etc in the cartoon)... I chose it to be my artist name," says Holdysh, who recently held an exhibition of her artwork at the Athlone Civic Centre.
The Ukrainian artist hopes that the magic of Mutabor comes alive for her, that someday she lands a great job in the art world. That someday there's no war and she visits her grandmother's idyllic house in Kamyanske city.
"But I have reconciled with the reality that I can never see either my grandma (Lubov, who passed away recently), or Kamyanske," says Holdysh, whose exhibition was an ode to Lubov.
An Athlone Affinity
As an undergraduate student of art and graphic design at the Kharkiv State Academy of Design and Fine Arts, Holdysh imagined herself living in another European city after she graduated.
"But not this way. For a 21-year-old me, becoming a refugee felt being pushed out of my home. I wanted to experience living in other countries, but not due to a war," says Holdysh who arrived in Dublin in late July, 2022.
A friend of hers, who sought refuge in Germany, told her about Europe's oldest pub being in Ireland. "I remember wanting to visit it and thinking to myself that it would be so great to live near Sean's Bar," recalls Holdysh with a smile.
As luck would have it, she was relocated to Athlone, a town that anchored her. "I did visit Sean's Bar, and it is also where I met my boyfriend, James, who works there," adds the Retreat Road resident.
Although Athlone is in contrast to her home city of Kryvyi Rih, or Kharkiv (where she studied), Holdysh is charmed by the town's duality of young population and old-world life.
"I admire how Athlone retains the genuine word-of-mouth style of communication. If I learn about something happening in the town, it would almost always be via a person, not a brochure or social media ad," says Holdysh.
Her only lament about the town is the drug abuse, and lack of jobs as an artist. "I am shocked to see the drug abuse being tolerated. It is disheartening to see teenagers say something like 'Cocaine is better than weed'," she rues.
Life In The Time of War
Holdysh says that war is a life-altering experience, especially if you're young. When the war broke out she was working as a graphic designer and illustrator with a reputed publishing house in Kharkiv. In the absence of a war she would have continued working and laid a good foundation for her career.
In reality, she is working as an interpreter with the Westmeath Community Development, a job she is grateful for, but would have preferred one that utilises her artistic skills. She is reorienting herself to life as a refugee.
"Your identity changes overnight, you're no longer an artist, or technician, or student... just a refugee. It is reductive, it limits you to victimhood.
"There have been instances when strangers have walked up to me to discuss the war. One of them, I remember, said -- What if Russia drops a bomb on Kyiv," shares Holdysh.
Another unlearning, she says, has been about overcoming embarrassment in asking for help.
"I was very self-reliant, and I had to learn how to take help and say thank you," she says. This new state of being has also given her an insight into humane acts that matter.
She cites an example involving Ann Flannery, owner of the iconic bar on Sean Costello Street.
"One of the most dignifying things someone can do for another is to remember them by their name. Each time I visit her pub Ann calls me by my name," says Holdysh, who has a big support system in friends from the immigrant and local communities.
Flower Power
Poppies, tulips, calla lilies, binweed blooms, irises, bellflowers, yarrows, forget-me-nots, calendulas, chicory blooms, snapdragons, red clovers feature in Holdysh's exhibition, aptly titled Mariia's Blooms.
Rendered in mixed media on paper, the flowers hold a special place in her heart. There are a few linoprints titled In-Between, with uprooted flowers. Each flower represents refugees, most of them Holdysh's friends, living a life in limbo.
"Flowers are very symbolic. The poppies, for instance, depict death, some have a romantic connotation etc. I love to use the flowers for the variety of meanings they can emote," says Holdysh whose favourite are wildflowers, especially the ones she would pick from the fields for her grandmother, Lubov.
Having grown up in a progressive, educated family, Holdysh's art feeds off her environment. Her native city, Kryvyi Rih, a cold, unapologetically sincere, industrial city becomes the inspiration for a beautiful chaos, Kharkiv with its irreverence and lightness often brings lightness to her canvas, while Kamyanske, Lubov's hometown, gave her sunshine, grounding and alignment with her art.
Perhaps someday she gets to visit her homeland shapeshifting into a wild rose. Mutabor!
Recipe: Cottage Cheese Cake
This easy and flavourful rustic cottage cheese cake takes Holdysh down memory lane.
She bakes this no-fail recipe often and has a strong feeling it will pair well with tea and coffee.
Ingredients:
500 gm cottage cheese
4 eggs
100 gm sour cream
150 gm sugar
10 gm vanilla sugar
60 gm wheat flour
50-75 gm dried apricots
1-2 tbsp powdered sugar for decoration (optional)
Method:
Put the cottage cheese in a bowl and mix it with a blender.
Add half of the sugar, eggs, sour cream, chopped dried apricots, wheat flour and a packet of vanilla sugar to the cottage cheese.
Mix it well.
Grease the inside of a ceramic or metal baking dish with butter. Pour the mixture into the dish and carefully smooth the surface with a spoon.
Cook the cottage cheese cake in a preheated oven, on 180, for 25-30 minutes.
When finished, remove and let cool completely.
If you would like to sweeten the dish a little, sprinkle 1-2 tbsp of powdered sugar on top of the cake and garnish it with a fruit of your choice.