Breakfast

75x150 cm, watercolor on paper

This artwork was created in 2023 during an art residency in Riedenburg. My time there became a difficult journey of overcoming despair—the despair of helplessness in the face of war, the unpredictability of death, and the fear for my loved ones.

I traveled there solely for the opportunity to work freely, even for a short time, leaving my family behind in Ukraine. During this period, I never turned off the air raid alert on my phone, as I couldn’t detach my thoughts from my loved ones, not even for a moment. I felt, with every fiber of my being, that I had to create a space for the future—to visualize a happy and victorious tomorrow.

This painting was the last one I completed—a kind of hymn to victory.

"We could no longer stay at the table because the wind had arrived, and everyone ran to hoist the sails!" P.S. That wasn’t just a chaotic breakfast scene—it was simply us passionately gesturing as we shared captivating stories with one another! 😊