Hundreds of Flowers

Several years ago, I was forced to leave my home in Russia after my country began military actions against Ukraine. The years of adapting to life in Portugal became both the most exciting adventure and the most difficult challenge of my life. I was searching for a new identity: building a home, finding friends, and learning a new language. Every day I faced difficulties in the simplest everyday situations that had once felt completely natural.
At that time, art became my consolation. I began observing the flowers growing in the garden of our home — watching how slowly their leaves and blossoms unfolded. I drew them and thought about how the pace of their growth could become a metaphor for the way my own roots were growing into new soil. I wanted to make this process visible, and so, during the long years of waiting for documents and legalization, I decided to create my own garden of flowers using every technique available to me.