Svitlana Romanenko is a researcher and populariser of the work of Yevhenia Bondarenko and of Tavrian painting in particular; deputy director for scholarly work of the municipal cultural institution “Mykolaiv Regional Local History Museum”; and a participant and expert in many contemporary regional projects on the identity of the Mykolaiv Region.

Romanenko Svitlana with her museum colleagues at an event on Olbia and archaeology within the project “Identity of the Mykolaiv Region: Past, Present and Future”

From 1997 to 2014 she worked in the museum’s department of ethnography, where she studied the traditions of the Mykolaiv Region and the history of decorative and applied art. She is a member of the expert council of the Regional Centre of Folk Art on the identification of objects of intangible cultural heritage of the Mykolaiv Region.

She graduated from the V. Sukhomlynskyi Mykolaiv Pedagogical Institute as a teacher of history.

She first met the work of Yevhenia Bondarenko at exhibitions held by the Mykolaiv branch of the National Union of Masters of Folk Art of Ukraine. The artist’s original pictures, built on the folklore of the southern land, sincerely struck the scholar. In 2000 the first of Bondarenko’s works entered the museum’s collection: the triptych Sailors’ Widows and the painting Cossack Mamai on the Lyman. This was the beginning of a gathering of pictures with elements of Tavrian painting.

S. Romanenko together with Yevhenia Bondarenko

In 2008 Svitlana Romanenko became curator of Yevhenia Bondarenko’s solo exhibition Paths to the Lyman, held for the artist’s eightieth anniversary. The display was unusual: the pictures were placed in the open air, among stone stelae — witnesses of the ancient history of our land — which underlined the weight of the material the artist was sharing with viewers.

A tour by S. Romanenko within Yevhenia Bondarenko’s exhibition Paths to the Lyman, 2008

Later similar exhibitions were shown at the Ochakiv Military History Museum and in educational institutions and libraries of the city. At the request of visitors Svitlana Romanenko gave curatorial tours, speaking of the unlike cultural phenomenon of the Mykolaiv Region — Tavrian painting. Thanks to this active work and to the sincere interest of city residents in her art, Yevhenia Bondarenko decided to give part of her works to the collection of the Mykolaiv Regional Local History Museum. More than fifty works entered the collection, after a process of scholarly processing and description.

In 2019 Tavrian painting was entered in the regional list of objects of intangible cultural heritage of the Mykolaiv Region, which drew the attention of a wide community. Svitlana Romanenko did not stand aside. In 2020 she took part in the 5th All-Ukrainian Scholarly and Practical Conference “The Ukrainian Studies Dimension in Contemporary Scholarship: the Humanitarian Aspect,” speaking of the distinctive quality of Yevhenia Bondarenko’s works, and she wrote and carried out the project “Unknown Tavryka,” supported by the Mykolaiv Development Fund. In the same period her cooperation with the Public Organisation “Adult Learning and Education Center ‘South’” began.

From 2023 the researcher took part in events of many kinds in support of the inclusion of Tavrian painting in the National List of Elements of the ICH of Ukraine. At lectures, presentations and discussions she continually underlined its original philosophical meaning and its cultural and historical value.

S. Romanenko showing a picture by Yevhenia Bondarenko at an exhibition in one of the libraries of the city of Mykolaiv, 2009

Among her appearances one should note:

• participation in the discussion “The Museum’s Work in the Popularisation and Safeguarding of Tavrian Painting,” under the aegis of the Ukrainian Centre for Cultural Studies;
• the paper “Yevhenia Bondarenko and Her Understanding of Tavrian Painting” at a session of the regional workshop “Dyvosvit”;
• the lecture “Yevhenia Bondarenko and Her Folk Picture” for listeners of PO “ALEC ‘South’”;
• the talk “Some Information on Folk Wall Painting of the Mykolaiv Region in the First Half of the Twentieth Century” during a scholarly discourse at the Mykolaiv Regional Institute of Postgraduate Pedagogical Education;
• the paper “The Decoration of Peasant Houses of the Mykolaiv Region” at a regional seminar on the safeguarding of ICH;
• the presentation of the theme “Some Information on Folk Wall Painting of the Mykolaiv Region in the Twentieth Century” at the round table “The Ornament of Tavrian Painting: Sources, Scholarly Grounding and Possibilities for the Development of the Tradition,” held under the aegis of the Mykolaiv Regional Scientific Library.

S. Romanenko, participant in the round table “The Ornament of Tavrian Painting: Sources, Scholarly Grounding and Possibilities for the Development of the Tradition,” 2025

In 2025 Svitlana Romanenko joined, as a member of the team, the preparation of documents for the nomination of Tavrian painting to the National List of Elements of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Ukraine, initiated by the Public Organisation “Adult Learning and Education Center ‘South’.” In the context of that fruitful work and cooperation, the painting received recognition and became part of the cultural code of the country.

But Svitlana Romanenko’s scholarly work does not end here. With the inclusion of the painting in the National List of ICH elements, the team of researchers faces new challenges bound to its safeguarding and further development. So — to be continued.