Connections is a body of work that focuses on expressing the visual elements that define what it means to me to be Ukrainian. In the winter term of 2022, I took a Special topics course that focused on Ukrainian Folklore and Ethnic identity. In this class, I discovered that I have always expressed my connections to my Ukrainian heritage through visual art. I have always had a passion for creative expression. But it was because of this special topics class that I realized the work that I feel the most connected to is the art that expresses my cultural and ethnic identity. And through this realization, the theme of my show was revealed.

When I began brainstorming ideas for the pieces in my show, I was trying to identify one key concept that I could determine as the root of my Ukrainian identity. What I quickly discovered is that there is not one specific element that expresses this, but a vast collection of things that combine together to create who I am as a Ukrainian-Canadian. So, instead of picking one subject, I decided to try and express them all together. In this body of work, I hope that the viewer is drawn into the bright colours, movements, and patterns that I found in Ukrainian dance. I hope the viewer feels the strength behind the Ukrainian women who taught me to express myself through language and art, to find and use my voice, and to love every part of who I am. I hope the viewer can feel the warmth of our family ties, and the power behind our shared folklore and traditions. But most of all, I hope that my art communicates the strength and connections we, as a community, have as Ukrainians.

About the Artist: 

Surreal Emotions is a visual expression of emotion that words fail to express. These paintings are a visual reflection of my subconscious thoughts and emotions from a female perspective. I consider myself a visual thinker, and expressing my thoughts can be difficult through language. My work is a visual representation of these thoughts and emotions in a surreal or dreamlike context. My use of color is expressive, not naturalistic, creating an interplay between representation and fantasy. I use vibrant colors and idealized female figures to create my paintings. Color in the paintings is essential to my voice as an artist; I see the beauty and power within heavy, saturated color and how it affects a painting. I use color as a way to express an emotion or feeling that can, in turn, invoke that same feeling in the viewer. Color is so effective as a form of expression because colors often have associated emotional qualities. The use of a cool-toned color palette can be associated with sorrow, whereas warm tones are often associated with contentment. The second key component in my work is my use of value: how I use lights and darks to create an image; how I show light and shadow on a figure; and how that can change the meaning of the image. How do dramatic shadows and brilliant lights affect your subconscious thoughts?

In my everyday life, I constantly think of things in visual terms. When I hear words, my subconscious processes them as visual pictures. This exhibition embodies how my brain thinks of things, and while I don’t always understand why I see things the way I do, my paintings embrace it. My decisions in creating my work always stem from “seeing it in my head”. When I paint, I start with a thought or a feeling, and my subconscious creates the image. I try to paint what my subconscious is visualizing.

About the Artist: