What is your favorite type of art to create?

My preferred forms of art are realistic pencil drawing, pastel, and oil painting, as they allow me to capture detail, light, and emotion while feeling both precise and free. This piece was created with colored pencils, dry pastels, and oil pastels as an illustration of the first poem I wrote after moving to the United States. I also scorched the paper into the shape of Ukraine, turning it into a symbol of memory, longing, and love.

Where do you find inspiration?

I am inspired by life’s challenges and circumstances, mostly because they don’t really give me a choice. They show up, stay a while, and somehow turn into lessons I didn’t know I needed. Through my art, I try to give those moments a softer form and turning hardship into texture, and emotion into color. What once felt heavy becomes something I can observe and release onto paper. In that process, even the hardest experiences begin to hold a special kind of beauty.

What would you do with $25,000?

I would use it to rent a larger apartment to create more space for my art, invest in higher-quality art supplies, and help support my parents in Ukraine. For me, it would be less about money itself and more about feeling understood and heard. A sense that my voice, my work, and my emotions matter and can be seen, received, and turned into something meaningful.