Olena Golubtsova is a poet and singer from Bakhmut, an incredibly creative and talented woman, songwriter and performer, jack of all trades and guardian of intangible cultural heritage. She loves teaching students and considers it very important to involve children in preserving national traditions.
In her native Bakhmut, she was a member of the Rhapsody ensemble, performed at various events, supporting the cultural life of the city, and wrote poetry under the pseudonym Popil-Ptashka.
Her story is told by Бахмут IN.UA.
When the full-scale war began, Olena Golubtsova remained in the city until the very end, helping at the humanitarian hub based at the Y. Martynov Palace of Culture. In February 2023, she and her family evacuated to Chernihiv.
The events she experienced in Bakhmut were turned into poems, which the author compiled into a collection called "Vonim." The poet says that the purpose of the collection is to continue talking about Bakhmut and telling its story so that the city is not forgotten. The poet also initiated a project to visualize her poems.
"This is a story about the intertwining of the fates of people who were in Bakhmut — soldiers, volunteers, ordinary residents who defended the city and helped it to survive," is how the poet describes her collection of poems.
The songs of the Rhapsody ensemble are based on Olena Golubtsova's poems. But now there is not much poetic inspiration, so prose works and decorative art pieces are being created, for which Olena has already been awarded first prizes in national competitions on several occasions. One of her latest awards is a first prize diploma at the MOTANKA FEST International Multigenre Arts Competition.
Today, Olena strives to revive a rare craft—alabaster molding—as part of Bakhmut's cultural identity.
The Bakhmut native plans to hold master classes for her fellow countrymen, where anyone who wants to can try their hand at alabaster work. People will be able to learn how to work with plaster, paint their own creations, and take home a piece of Donetsk Oblast and their native land.
In her free time, Olena visits the support center for residents of the Bakhmut community, "With Bakhmut in Our Hearts. Chernihiv," which was created to support internally displaced persons. At events, Olena Golubtsova talks about prominent Ukrainian authors, keeps a folk calendar, teaches the ancient method of decorating homes with plaster molding, and many other interesting things. Attention to intangible heritage goes hand in hand with concern for the mental and psychological health of visitors.
"Our city lives in our hearts, and if we live, then Bakhmut lives too," Olena Golubtsova creatively sums up.
The Ukrainian people are hardworking and indomitable!
Together to victory!