Polie NIMAEWA (b. 1998), Flowers of Evil, 2022

Acrylic, flower petals and string, paper, 70 x 52 cm

Polie is a Siberian-born visual artist and poet. She opposes the war in Ukraine, the regime of the Russian and Belarusian authorities, their dictators and decisions. As she points out: "On February 24 I woke up without my former homeland, because the Russian authorities betrayed me and all its citizens, who consider what happened an irreversible mistake and the end of their former lives." During the creative process, the artist leaves a trace of her experiences on paper, a moment of "here" and "now," while freeing herself from the burden of emotions and capturing something important on canvas. All of the artist's paintings contain a strong semantic context that pierces directly and expresses the full depth of her feelings.