CRITICA

As a multimedia artist, curator, and educator, my work investigates what happens when the places and communities we call home are ripped away — by war, natural disaster, or political upheaval. I work across painting, photography, and video to document and interpret the psychic and physical landscapes of displacement: what it means to lose a home, to rebuild identity far from where it began, and to find resilience in unfamiliar ground.

My background in both art and psychology grounds my practice in deep listening and layered observation. As an educator at a local college, where I teach photography and psychology, I remain dedicated to creating space for dialogue about how conflict, crisis, and migration shape the human mind and spirit.

Currently, I am curating an exhibition in San Francisco that brings together esteemed artists responding to these urgent themes of uprooting and survival. A central part of this project is my series about the Grand Kyiv Ballet, whose story embodies the tragedy and perseverance that define our times. When the war in Ukraine erupted, the dancers — on tour far from home — found themselves exiled overnight, unable to return to Kyiv. They resettled in Washington State, transforming a place of refuge into a new stage for their craft. They now tour to sustain their art form and support Ukraine, carrying with them a living testament to the endurance of culture and community in the face of unimaginable loss.

Through this work, I hope to illuminate not only the devastation of home turned to rubble, but the power of human beings to gather their fragments and dance again — to stand en pointe in the ashes and remind us that art is a shelter we can carry anywhere.