Biography

I was born in Odesa, Ukraine. When I was a child I wholeheartedly believed that movies and all their wondrous characters were real. The day I was told that these people were actors was the day I started to imagine myself as Xena the Princess Warrior, with horse and sword in hand defending the oppressed and inspiring little girls like me. Acting fascinated me and I dreamt that one day I would be able to pursue it. I understood however that coming from an economically struggling background there was a need to ground myself with an additional skill.

When I was 14 I started working as an interpreter and a field coordinator for an NGO that helps orphaned kinds of Ukraine and organizes semiannual hosting programs for these kids to come visit the US. Working with the disadvantaged kids set me on a path of understanding and helping people in need. Upon graduating high school at 16 I moved to the US by myself to attend college. I have remained involved with the NGO throughout the years. 

After completing my studies at Fordham University in Marketing and Finance, I spent a couple of years in the corporate world from which I learned a lot and thoroughly enjoyed. While I was growing my corporate career I knew that it wasn’t really what I was meant to do. I felt it was the right time to take a leap of faith and go with my heart which has always been in acting. My first feature film role was in David Bezmozgis’ critically acclaimed film "Natasha" for which I was nominated for Best Actress in the leading role category at the Canadian Screen Awards. The film had a very successful international film festival run and theatrically opened in Canada and New York to glowing reviews including The New York Times, Variety and many more. 

On 3/26 2015 while walking home from the gym I was in a massive East Village explosion. I survived with a lacerated earlobe and emotional trauma. On my journey to recovery I was very fortunate to find an incredibly knowledgeable and compassionate psychotherapist who diagnosed me with PTSD. For the years to follow, he has been treating me with post-traumatic therapy techniques, including EMDR and I am still a patient of his, and know that I can turn to him whenever I need to. I also found solace in painting, as per my mother’s suggestion. I gradually developed a personal style, turning my emotions and trauma into a creative art form. 

As Covid hit I turned to art once more, as a proven way for me to cope in difficult situations. I wanted to share the comfort and joy I got from art and share this positive energy with the people I loved. That’s how the idea of a special painting concept came to me. It flowed out of the depths of my heart… and that’s when Wav8motion was born. For me, it’s a spiritual practice and a process of capturing people’s essence in my art. 

ARTIST STATEMENT

Wav8motion (pronounced “wave motion”) is an art form, a communication process. It’s a personal style of painting that goes beyond a single sense by amplifying and visually representing the power of a spoken word. The outcome of the process is an abstract representation of a sound bite of a specific word or a phrase against a personalized background that captures the essence of a person. A word or a phrase could be something that is meaningful to a person at this point in time or something that they want to materialize in their lives going forward. My hope is to be an additional prompt for people as they think and talk about their lives, contemplating and plotting their aspirations; and that spending time with the painting is going to be an encouragement as they move forward in achieving their goals.

I’ve learned about the healing power of art as I was recovering from the case of PTSD that was brought about by the deadly explosion. Now I want to comfort and inspire people through my art and spread the message of growing through difficult times. It is crucial for us to level up and rewrite our story as we are collectively recovering from the trauma of the pandemic.  

I use a 12x16 Belgian linen canvas and acrylic paints. The process of creating each highly personalized painting consists of three steps. It starts with me connecting with a person in a conversation that reaches the core of who they are. We establish the word or a phrase of their Wav8motion and I capture it in a recording. 

While painting I stay connected and open to a person’s essence, listening to their favorite music. Sound, color, energy, and vibrations come together in this multi-sensory expression. The recorded sound wave is then drawn by hand using a ruler and is rather abstract than precise because there are no straight lines in nature, as Antoni Gaudi used to say. Wav8motion has a chameleon-like quality to it and will change colors in relation to the light. 

The process continues after a person receives the painting and spends time with it in order to reaffirm the path that they created for themselves by connecting with a Wav8motion and taking 3 honest deep breaths, twice a day for 6 days (The 326 Method)