The process of learning oneself over time is fraught and thorny, even in a steady world. Exploring myself—two decades in Ukraine, two in the United States, knowing hunger, knowing feast, love and sorrow—has at times felt less a moment of discovery than an endless tangle. I painted several portraits of the same woman to follow back those threads of time, to uncover what is circumstance and what is me. She stands still in each painting as the background, clothes, and frames shift around her. The backgrounds of each painting represent the ever-changing landscapes of the immigrant experience, soaked with novelty and nostalgia and uncertainty. The frames on the sides represent fragments of time—almost like in a movie strip—with past and future memories, and hope always present in the now. I look at change in culture through change in fabric colors, and the passing of seasons through change in light.

Who is Ukrainian Anya? Who is American Anya? Who is poor Anya? Who is loved Anya? These timescapes give a glimpse—for now—of self, and I invite viewers to explore the same.