As our people extinguished the fourth reactor, as sacks fell onto the raging fire, and the heroes performed their military duty and left us, may their memory be eternal. And to those who are alive, Ukraine bows to the very ground. Maria Prymachenko, 1995.

Essays “This is how I dreamed of the fourth reactor” Maria Prymachenko and (not) naive images of Chornobyl

Art in the Soviet Union was the mirror of the official communist party policy. However, Maria Prymachenko was successfully hiding the critique of the system behind “naive” pictures. She was one of the few artists who truly depicted the consequences of the Chornobyl catastrophe: from environmental issues to commemorating the dead, from illnesses to corruption surrounding liquidator certificates.

Published in the printed edition of Baltic Worlds BW 2026:1, pp 37-42
Published on balticworlds.com on April 23, 2026

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abstract

Art in the Soviet Union was the mirror of the official communist party policy. However, Maria Prymachenko was successfully hiding the critique of the system behind “naive” pictures. She was one of the few artists who truly depicted the consequences of the Chornobyl catastrophe: from environmental issues to commemorating the dead, from illnesses to corruption surrounding liquidator certificates.

KEYWORDS: Maria Prymachenko, Chornobyl disaster, Ukrainian art, Russo-Ukrainian war, naive art.

Full article as a pdf for free download, see upper right corner.

Oksana Semenik

  • Essays are scientific articles.

    Essays are selected scholarly articles published without prior peer-review process.

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