Selected Portfolio
I don’t want my art to be interpreted as witchy, feminist, mystical, occult, or carrying any religious or worshipping content. The concept of organised religion, as well as idea of any worship of any deity (including invocation of, prayer to, ritualistic sacrifice etc.) is not aligned with my spiritual, intellectual, creative or civic path. I do respect and accept religious beliefs, as long as they are not fanatical and/or harmful, and I find inspiration, wisdom, and learning in story, metaphor, and teaching of multiple traditions, lores, and spiritual practices.
My mixed graphic media portfolio consists of doodles, doomspits, drawlines and paint splashes on a variety of unfortunate surfaces, probably not always meant for this experimentation. A lot of this work addresses political, social/societal, cultural or spiritual issues. Or a combination of those.
My black and white ink work is an on-growing and in-deepening body of artwork, which is both, and at the same time, deeply introspective and wide open to the matters of the world. I grew up in a non-indoctrinated but spiritual Orthodox (Christian) tradition thus I use a lot of Christian symbolism to metaphor, code, and amplify the ideas behind my work. I come from several lore-, tradition-, and history-rich cultures, and have led a nomadic life that has absorbed traditions and cultures of my new homes and intertwined them with my own. I use symbolism and imagery I grew up with alongside those I picked up on the way to tell my own story or to reflect my vision and/or interpretation of the world. Frequently the topics, ideas, and even forms for my artwork come from my shamanic journeys. Often, I use religious, lore or tarot settings as metaphorical scenarios to look at personal or societal developments from an alternative, and more amplifying perspective. However, although I have a precise and detailed explanation for each of my pieces, I would rather the beholder sees what speaks to and/or at them in the moment of looking. I tell my personal story, so that others may relate universally, interpret from their own experiences, and be made to think deeper about their own, story and path through, life. And sometimes, I just like to play and ask rhetorical questions.
A lot of of illustrative black and white work I do addresses issues of gender roles and perpetual comparison of the male with the female within both traditional and modern systems of perception, and how skewed either of them are. The pendulum swings from far-right conservatism to third-wave feminism never stopping in the middle point of humanism and true equality. It is a ping-pong game of placing blame and playing victim, of victim shaming and villainization. Our modern tendency is to bypass the idea of full and clean-cut equality and keep feeding off of trauma fuelling revenge, with the claim for equal rights quickly becoming the demand of privilege. I use traditional symbolism, recognisable imagery, and well-known stories, but I endeavour to approach them from an alternative perspective, and thus ask whether there actually is that absolute truth in the way we unapologetically assign stereotypes and labels based on gender, age, religious affiliation etc.
Click on each piece to read more about the story/thought behind it, and see more pictures (details/in process).
