My passion for creating art began cultivating when I was a little girl and realized that I had a lot of feelings and ideas that I just didn't seem to know how to hold. I began writing poetry when I was 8. My first poem was about colors, written in a crayon in broken English.
Born and raised in Moscow, Russia I had a lot to work with as an artist. Seeing the post-Soviet Union depression of the country made me feel certain feelings I wasn't sure how to handle. I took them on and began pondering everything. After my ninth existential crisis at the age of 5, I asked my grandfather "why do we live?" This question still bothers me till this day, but acquiring and accumulating potential answers has brought amazing experiences and cool philosophy classes into my life. It has also led me to create work that captures the incessant self-analysis' and endless questions that everyone experiences on some level. I like to connect dots about ideas and concepts that reveal answers to deep rooted, subconscious questions I didn't even know I was asking myself. I love connections. In my photography, I love capturing moments when people accidentally let their mask slip off and reveal a human side everyone can see themselves in. I like to focus on what connects us, not what separates us. I love moments when people are vulnerable. I see beauty in pain in a very cliche way, and I believe it is cliche because we can all appreciate raw emotions. I believe everyone craves it. I enjoy capturing moments when a person is at a crossroads and is about to make a life changing decision; moments when a story can be written from different perspectives; moments when we see that there is an invisible common thread that unites us. A woman in a wheelchair praying in the middle of a touristy church; a crying girl on the subway smiling at a baby; an alcoholic throwing a bottle at a tree. Moments where our differences are apparent and our similarities undeniable.
Growing up in a different country and moving 13 times in my 22 years, I have experienced multiple identity crisis,' each one revealing a side of me I forgot existed. When I moved to the Russian part of Brooklyn after living in north jersey for over 5 years, I found myself getting resentful about the area and I had no idea why. It took me a while to realize that it merely reminded me of the not-so-fun part of the post-USSSR experience in Russia. This experience pushed me to explore my identity further and try to find out why I had such a strong emotional response. I wrote a lot during this time. I believe we all have parts of our identity we aren't so comfortable with; yet these parts are integral pieces of the puzzle. Through my work, I like to tap into uncomfortable feelings and raw emotions that we all have but like to pretend we don't. When I uncover and portray these areas, it feels like finally vacuuming under my bed; suddenly everything seems cleaner and clearer.
