Owls
Сови
Black-and-gold owls with individually characterised faces, read by commentators as a tribute to Raiko's sisters, one of them shown with a blackbird in its beak. The owl is the closest thing in the house to a self-portrait motif.
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Related Works
Angels on the Ceiling
Flying angels scattered across a ceiling filled with a sea of green and blue flowers, edged with a blue-and-yellow border. Painted between 1998 and 2004 as part of Raiko's total decoration of her own house.
White Roosters
Two large white roosters with green and red highlights facing each other across a bedroom wall, among the most reproduced images from the house. Roosters, storks and owls were Raiko's recurring guardians of the domestic interior.
The Fisherman
Raiko's husband Mykola shown as a bearded fisherman-boatman playing a stringed instrument amid rows of coloured bottles, an unsparing but affectionate account of his drinking. It is the clearest example of her turning family biography directly into mural narrative.
Storks
White storks with yellow feet and red eyes carrying yellow flowers on their backs, painted in the national bird's traditional role as bringer of good fortune to a house. Part of the continuous band of birds that ran through every room.