i make art about what it feels like to be a woman— all the weight we carry, all the ways we try to be enough.
the tension between softness and strength shows up a lot in my work. so does the mess of trying to hold on to yourself while being everything for everyone. some pieces begin with a line from a poem, others with a quick sketch. often it’s just a feeling i can’t name until i start drawing.
what would happen if i stopped performing?
who would i be without the script (that is constantly running in my mind)?
ink, acrylic, oil, white space— i use whatever medium helps me get close to what feels true. sometimes bold, sometimes quiet. sometimes both.
i was born in russia and always thought i’d become an artist or a writer.
i was studying journalism in moscow when my life took a turn—i moved to canada at 18.
i barely spoke english, and writing suddenly felt impossible. art didn’t feel like a secure path either, so i chose what felt safer: law.
years passed. life got busy. art became doodles with my kids. writing turned into notes i never finished.
then came covid. the rush stopped, and in that stillness, everything i had bottled up for years finally had somewhere to go. i started writing again—stories, then poetry. i illustrated the words. and when that wasn’t enough, i turned the poems into paintings.
sometimes i wonder who i’d be if i made different choices…but I know that all my choices are gifts. That ME, the artist, is the accumulation of every experience, the life that stayed on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, every heartbreak and every win. I needed to walk all the other paths before coming here. I was not ready.
but I am now.
Good Girl
If you are here then maybe something in the work made you pause. maybe it reminded you of something you hadn’t put into words yet.
i hope you find pieces here that feel like mirrors or quiet companions. thanks for being curious enough to come closer.
