Julia Savtchenko’s Archives Residency: Research and Discoveries

Julia Savtchenko is the inaugural recipient of the Razom for Ukraine Archives Residency. She is a Finnish artist with Ukrainian roots, an illustrator, and a children’s author. 

At the Bohdan Medwidsky Ukrainian Folklore Archives, Julia is continuing work on a project that she began in 2024, “Seitsemän korppia — ja muita Ukrainalaisia kansansatuja,” translated as “Seven ravens — and other folk tales from Ukraine.” 

During her residency at the Kule Folklore Centre, Julia is exploring a wide range of handwritten, printed, and visual materials from the archives. These collections will inform both the writing and illustrations for her book of Ukrainian folktales in Finnish, planned for publication in fall 2027.

Julia says, “Since the beginning of the full-scale war, I think it is very important to represent and promote Ukrainian culture. Ukrainian folktales are among the cultural traditions that have been incorrectly labelled as Russian for decades. There are many Ukrainian refugees and immigrants in Finland, so I believe the book will be relevant to many people. It will also enrich Finnish children’s literature.”

“During my residency at the Kule Folklore Centre, I have found information and sources answering questions that have been on my mind for a long time. I was hoping to find folktale material that features the theme of stealing a female character's clothes and/or burning her animal skin. To my delight, I found a lot of material related to those themes, and I will be able to include it in my work. I have also been interested in this character called The Iron-Nosed Witch — who, as far as I understand, is originally a Hungarian character, but sometimes she appears in contexts of Ukrainian folk tales as well. There is also a stamp of her, printed in Ukraine in 2012. I managed to find a Ukrainian tale about her with an illustration. This is why illustrations are also very important: people can recognize characters and happenings regardless of the written language. Pictures are a language of their own.

“A very important part of my work has also been researching materials related to people's and characters' clothing: the illustrations and textiles in the archive. It is crucial for my work as an illustrator that my illustrations are based on authentic Ukrainian folklore and that the characters' clothing in my book reflects Ukrainian heritage.

“There is also this very interesting folktale called ‘The Mare’s Head.’ From the beginning, it was clear to me that I wanted to include the tale in my book, but it was difficult to find sources from Finland, mostly using the internet. Here at Kule I have found several written versions of the tale and many illustrations; it truly is a tale that appears often in the context of Ukrainian folk tales.”

Watch a short interview with Julia on the Kule Folklore Centre Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/gul38OGsZeU