Paraska Plytka-Horytsvit

Born in a family of Stefan Plytka, known blacksmith in Kosiv disctirct, educated man who knew several languages. Mother — Hanna, a talented weaver and embroidery. Later the family moved to Krivorivnya. She graduated four classes of the school, but thanks to his father knew different languages (including German), so during World War II worked as a translator in a rural office.

1943 — went alone to Germany to go to university. Instead of studying had to serve in the German family, where suffered from humiliation. After returning to Krivorivnya, joined the national liberation movement, was coherent UPA, helping forest insurgents to get food and warm clothes.

Exile

In the winter of 1945 thousands of convicted young girls from Western Ukraine were sent in echelons to Siberia. «Instead of warm clothing we were given bloody coats of the executed», — mentioned Paraska. She got her feet extremely frozen and because of that had to stay in the Urals prison hospital. Miraculously, her feet hadn't been amputated, but she had to use crutches for almost 5 years. Since 1947 were in a prison Savior (Kazakhstan).

In prison she met a young Georgian artist, with whom she corresponded for a long time and fell in love. Paraska could send home a letter with his address, but her parents did not approve of the relationship and her father destroyed the letter, resulting in Paraska losing touch with the artist. Upon returning home, she could not forgive her father and lived alone. Remembering her love for life she left alone till the end of life.

Returning to the native village

At the age of 27, Paraska returned to Krivorivnya. Because she had been imprisoned, the locals feared her. Paraska started taking pictures of people and handing them their portraits. This allowed her to gain the respect of the villagers. She did not discuss with them her life in prison in the belief that her stories would only bring the villagers pain.

She was once actively involved in public affairs, working in forestry and taking part in the village's artistic activities. She joined the choir, wrote, drew, and took photographs. She later withdrew from the public eye and lead a more private life.

She lived the life of an ascetic, sometimes eating only what villagers brought her. Paraska had no garden because given her land instead not cut down its two birch trees on a hill near the house. When working, she could not even let the priest enter the house — she needed full concentration.

1970-1990-s

Since 1970s she drove students' expeditions to the Carpathian Mountains. Several students from Kyiv gave her a thank you typewriter on which Paraska later wrote her works. Horytsvit expected negligence to her work after her death. So she made paper cases that protected manuscripts.

Recent years she's lived in poverty and almost lost his eyesight. There was a coffin in her house ready for the funeral and signed cross, which remained only space for a date. Buried in the village of Krivorivnya.

Prose

Writer's achievements of Paraska is titled as a «Present to the native land»: contains 46 major manuscripts and printed books which have 500 pages each, as well as dozens of small booklets with her own illustrations and improvised bindings. Manuscripts have a class calligraphy.

She compiled a Dictionary of the Hutsul dialect, wrote stories, fairy tales and fantastic adventure novel «Indian glow» about the adventures of hutsuls in India, also wrote diaries.

After each book was ready, Paraska designed it with hand-made decorations and painted illustrations. 2008 was published the first book — «Starovitski povistorkye» (Ukrainian: Старовіцкі повісторькє), written in Hutsul dialect with explaining the meanings of some words.

Paintings

Pictures «Shevchenko in the Carpathians» made by Paraska are kept in the Kaniv museum. Dozens of works are dedicated to Ivan Franko and Lesia Ukrainka. The series «Hutsulka's Destiny» tells about the life of women in the high Carpathians. Her paintings have Shota Rustaveli, Lesia Ukrainka, Ivan Franko, Taras Shevchenko, Vasyl Stefanyk, Oksana Petrusenko.

Poetry

Paraska had not only wrote prose but poetry as well. She used Hutsul dialect (especially poetry collection «We should think»). Lyrics were typed on a typewriter and wrote colored handles, putting additional meaning in a foreground. Poetry, unlike prose, mostly on religious themes.

Photo

She started taking photos in the 1970s and continued almost until her death. Most of the works were either lost or damaged by time and moisture due to careless storage.

Paraska was very talented and meticulous photographer but very few of villagers knew that. Until the end of his life, she had never exhibited her photos and negatives and printed photographs were kept under the bed. Some of them accidentally were found 2015 in a museum in the package, which she wrote signed as «bad photographs, pale».

It turned out that Paraska made more than 4000 photographs. She took pictures of villagers and their children, landscapes, holidays, nature and more. In the photos we can see how the same people appear at different times: first a girl, then she's already a woman, then later it can be a picture of her with her children. Particular attention is paid to Easter, the holiday was photographed every year. Photos allow you to see the life of ordinary people living in the midst of the Carpathian mountains the second half of the XX century. Technique photos are at a very high level. Paraska learned by herself how to take pictures and print them. According to experts, Paraska was meticulously measuring and thinking through all the details of the image and had a great talent as well as was working hard on it.

Thanks to the random visitors to the museum in 2015 they could find and preserve more than 4,000 photos and negatives. They were cleaned, transferred to digital format and protected from further destruction.

Gallery

Several photographs from the collection:

The exhibition in the museum, the house where she lived Paraska

Films

• «World Paraska Adonis» (1992, director — Paul Farenyuk, operator Olexandr Koval)
• «Carol for Paraska» (2005, Oleh Drach)
• «Icon» (2008).

Exhibitions

• November 2016 — activists from Ivano-Frankivsk held an exhibition «Portrait of place and time», dedicated to Paraska,
• December 2016 — in Warsaw's «Biennale Nieużytków» photographs gallery,
• «We have to think» — exhibition in the Museum of Hrushevsky in Kyiv;
• 2010 — The National Museum of Literature of Ukraine performed the author's exhibition, where her paintings, paper decorations and manuscripts were shown.

Museum

A museum of Plytka-Horytsvit was founded in her house in Krivorivnya. During the first five years of Paraska's works weren't maintained properly. Later the exhibition had a catalog and people began to organize, convert photos digitally etc.

Books, photos and paintings are kept in this museum, the rest is stored in the museum of Ivan Franko in Krivorivnya, in Verhovyna and several other museums in Ukraine.