Lyuba Melnik

Ukrainian hand embroidered work (vyshyvankas)

Lyuba learned embroidery from her mother, Efrosinia. Her mother’s talent grew out of her love for the art and she would often tell Lyuba, “Child, learn how to embroider, it’s soulful work and perhaps, when necessary, can even provide you a piece of bread. Life is like that, you’ll have so many different experiences, some good, some bad. Embroidery can take you through all of them.” And so, with this perspective, Lyuba began learning to embroider as well. Lyuba’s walls at home are like a museum, preserving her earliest attempts as a child to master various styles and techniques. Making her own patterns, she was inspired by her mother’s village, books, operas, and nature. “I love embroidery more than anything. I love everything about it--choosing the threads, the fabric. Sometimes while I embroider, I compose poetry.”

Lyuba Melnik was born and raised in the western Ukrainian city of L’viv. Lyuba means love in Ukrainian, and there are few people who personify their name as Lyuba does. Her personality and life are characterized by the depth of her ability to love all things and share that love in any situation. But it was no coincidence that she was named Lyuba, and she likes to share why the name was chosen. After one particular battle during the Second World War in 1943, only three soldiers survived out of the entire company. Mykola, a Russian; Mikhailo, a Tatar; and Lyuba’s father, Vasyl, a Ukrainian. Together they knelt down and prayed in thanks that they had survived and agreed amongst themselves that if they survived the war and had the chance to have a family with daughters, in honor of God they would name them Vira (faith), Nadia (hope), and Lyubov (love). Out of the three veteran friends, Lyuba was the third and last daughter to be born, so she was named Lyuba. 

Lyuba’s life has not been easy, there were many tragedies and hardships. Just as her mother had always said, embroidery criss crossed its way through all of them; from helping land her first job at an embroidery retail shop after completing her vocational training in merchandise and commodities sales to being both a means of comfort and survival for her and her young family after an accident left her unable to walk for many months. Her experience relying on the generous support of rehabilitators motivated Lyuba to complete Red Cross training as a nurse assistant and she now specializes in at home care for paralyzed patients. 

“Ever since I was a kid, I prayed and wished that there would be no closed borders [to the Soviet Union] so that people could travel here and get to know my wonderful homeland.” One such way to get to know Ukraine is through Lyuba’s mastery of traditional Ukrainian hand embroidery, passed on through generations from mother to daughter. Just as embroidery tightly threads through Lyuba’s life, so too does Ukrainian traditional hand embroidery travel across the regions and histories of Ukraine, a single and common art form infinitely diverse in the hands of the people and places that make up Ukraine. 

“Even when I use the same general pattern, the details distinguish each piece apart, or perhaps I use a different combination of colors. It’s just like with people, we are different, and it’s what makes each of us special.”