I ended
up spending all my computer time last week reading up on Polina Rayko. I
had a hard time tracking down enough information in English so I
downloaded a handful of translation softwares to try to piece together
her story. Her house and her art were discovered by accident, much like
Khadambi Asalache story. Below are photos are her home and her story:
Polina Rayko’s was born in Tsyuryupinsk in the Ukraine and for the most
part things went as they should. She married in the1950s and had two
children, a son and daughter. Polina and her husband made a modest
income selling produce from their backyard and lived a very normal life.
In 1994, however, everything began to go down hill. Her daughter was
tragically killed in a car accident, and her husband passed away shortly
there after. Her son, as a result of his own grief turned to drugs and
was in and out of prison until he too died from his addiction.
In 1998 when Polina was 69, she began painting her home as a way to
brighten up her life. She received a small pension every month and used
it to buy the cheapest brushes and paints she could find at the market.
She had no T.V., magazines or regular access to a newspaper so she drew
her inspiration from water bottle and wine labels, a set of religious
postcards and old chocolate wrappers.
Polina painted the walls, ceilings doors and track into the street
before she finished four years later. Afterward she began taking orders
locally painting murals on walls, gate and monuments including her son
and husbands in the local cemetery.
Although, her art gathered the attention of a
few local art lovers her work largely went unnoticed and her grandson
who inherited the house sold it for only $6,000.
A few years after her death a painted phrase was found on the garage door: “How to find a way to paradise…
It was really hard to narrow down the photos I gathered for this post so I uploaded the rest to a set on my flickr account
here if you are interested.
