Perhaps the best-known Holodomor-related work in the Patriarch Mstyslav Museum collection (and perhaps its best-known work, period) is "Zemlia" by the Ukrainian American artist Bohdan Pevnyi (1931-2002).This moving image of an old woman clutching at freshly-tilled yet sterile farmland captures the essence of the brutality of the Holodomor. The ground is not completely sterile, however, as a tiny blue flower in the lower left hits at survival.

Born in Ukraine, Pevnyi fled as a displaced person during World War II, and after settling in New York in 1951 attended the School of Visual Arts, the National Academy of Design, and the Art Students League. In addition to his artistic work, he was an art writer, critic, and co-editor of the journal Suchasnist.