The Stork

This painting was inspired by a photo made by Nils Sokolovs.

I saw the reference photo on the Facebook and it reminded me of my home – Ukraine. Unfortunately, there was no author mentioned and it took me some time to find the photographer. It is very sad that people never quote the author, whenever they post something on the social media. Furthermore, it appeared that the author is Latvian, and part of my father’s family comes from Latvia, so when I realized that, I felt even more connection to the subject.

For me the storks have always been my personal symbol of Ukraine – for 10 years my family has been living in Russia and coming back every summer to my home country, I was always greeted by nesting storks. This painting is very personal to me – it revokes the feeling of belonging, joy and carefree childhood.