Cocoon series

The date February 24, 2022, changed everything. Russia, the country where I was born and lived all my life, invaded the independent neighbour, Ukraine. It became impossible for my family and me to stay in the aggressor country and wait while new propaganda permeated all aspects of life, including our children’s schools.We embarked on a way to a new life. We stayed in Armenia, then in the UAE, and now we are based in the USA.This path has been a path of waiting, and it still is. COVID taught us that nothing is constant, and the world changes every minute. We were trained to be flexible, to adapt, to try other options, and to find comfort within the changes.The new challenge was waiting. For news, for the necessary paperwork, for departure and arrival, for finding a new apartment, for interviews, for assessment results, for our dog to come to us.Initially, this waiting process frustrated me a lot. However, I learned to embrace this process and not to focus on it much. I normalized this state, delving deep into it and exploring its depths, breathing evenly and finding relaxation. Through this, I discovered a newfound level of comfort, a feeling of calmness and security. Deep inside waiting felt good, as if I was in a safe cocoon.

The practice of drawing with dots emerged during the longest wait for the documents. I sought to normalize the state of waiting. I began putting dots on paper, one by one, step by step. Gradually, I realized that this mirrored what I was doing in real life—taking small steps, unsure of the outcome, with a wavering belief in myself, and a sense of the long journey ahead. Dot by dot, it became my meditation, reflecting the waiting process. Eventually, the entire sheet of paper would be filled with dots, an image would emerge, and the work would be complete. The gesture of zooming out is essential in understanding the whole process, seeing the complete picture, celebrating the completion of a certain stage, and feeling the inner strength.
The stone is my totem. 

Flying stone means it acquired new properties to adapt the situation.