"I Stay" is an autobiographical painting. Since the beginning of the full-scale war, I tried to leave the country several times to take my children away from the terrible events. But it happened that every attempt ended up in the hospital for me. After the fourth time, I gave up trying, and decided to stay at home despite logic, common sense and fear for my children's lives.
Psychosomatics? Intuition? Fear of uncertainty?
I think it's definitely not about being nervous about the unknown, because I'm an experienced traveler, fluent in English and have no problems communicating with foreigners. I believe that the issue lies in something that is deeper, more important and beyond the usual material things. It is difficult for me to explain logically why this happened, so I expressed these experiences and reflections in my painting "I Stay".
On it, I portray myself as someone who, on some higher spiritual level, has grown with my home, my native land. Therefore, the colors of the background seem to permeate the entire figure, and the limbs, like roots, "grow" into the lower part of the canvas.
And the whole figure seems to say: "This is my place. I am at home. I stay…”
