Night on a lake

Fragments
Memories for Liberty by Oksana Veber

Ukrainian artist Oksana was born in the Altaj region of Russia, one of the most politically and geographically isolated corners of the modern world.

Her career started at a specialist art school at the age of 9, moving on to Bryansk Art College at age 14, where she graduated. On graduation she was immediately admitted into the Artists’ Union of Ukraine, where her professional career instantly took off at the age of 19.

The artist has first-hand experience of oppression as members of her family were incarcerated by Stalin’s regime. With the fear of physical and spiritual entrapment she liberated herself by creating a series of art pieces that are both autobiographical and dramatic and offer the viewer the chance to redefine the meaning of expression.

“Some of my artist friends are in jail in Russia today for their opinions, and when I arrived in the UK, in 2007, for my first exhibition here, I was shocked to hear English friends laugh at politicians, the police and the Royal Family in a manner which is completely unthinkable in the former Soviet Union. Only now did I begin to see that real creative freedom of expression was possible…”

Oksana’s work is wide-ranging, from landscape to portrait to still life. Since 1987, her work has been recognised internationally with extensive exhibitions across Europe and as far away as Shanghai and Los Angeles.