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Tamara Safarova
Artist from Ukraine
Tamara Safarova (b. 1992) is a Ukrainian artist of Azerbaijani origin who lives and works in Kyiv, Ukraine. She started her artistic career in 2022 in response to russia full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Working across painting, graphics, comics, photography, digital media, and performance, Safarova explores themes of identity, memory, cultural heritage, gender, trauma and transformation.
Her work seeks to expose the invisible: making internalised experiences and collective silences visible, felt, and shared. Mythology, personal history, and symbolic archetypes form the core of her artistic vocabulary.
Safarova’s visual language often bridges the deeply personal with the mythic and the political, grounded in both the natural world and the layered cultural context of post-soviet and postcolonial experiences.
Her first solo exhibition took place in 2022 at the Kunstmuseum in Stuttgart, Germany. Since then, her work has been shown internationally, including at Santa Maria delle Grazie (Venice, Italy), Kühlhaus (Berlin, Germany), the National Museum of Ukrainian Folk Decorative Art (Kyiv, Ukraine), Mystetskyi Arsenal (Kyiv, Ukraine), and Poltava Art Museum (Poltava, Ukraine).
Her works are held in public collections in Italy, Belgium, and Ukraine.
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Wizards in the grove
Painting by Tamara Safarova
73 x 140 cm • Oil on canvas
Location:
Kyiv, Ukraine
This painting embodies a powerful concept of the cult of nature, the nation's devotion to its roots, and the strength of spirit.
At the center of the canvas, there is a dense grove of mighty oaks.
Each tree symbolizes a mediator between heaven and earth, an embodiment of divine power and wisdom.
The mysterious darkening in the painting indicates the presence of the wizards — sages and messengers capable of influencing natural phenomena. Their magical abilities and the power to halt the course of the Sun or eclipse it with the Moon are depicted in this symbolic image.
Perhaps it was these very sages who transformed into age-old oaks, symbolizing eternal divine power.
The mystical and enigmatic atmosphere permeates the entire scene.
The color palette reflects the bloody light of the sun pouring onto the treetops, creating an impression of sacrificial blood.
It symbolizes a great nation paying with blood for its independence and return to its roots.
This painting aims to prompt viewers to contemplate the importance of respecting nature, the richness of cultural heritage, and national self-determination.
It draws attention to the grandeur and power of nature intertwining with the eternal essence of our people.
Location:
Kyiv, Ukraine
About the artist
Tamara Safarova
Artist from Ukraine
Tamara Safarova (b. 1992) is a Ukrainian artist of Azerbaijani origin who lives and works in Kyiv, Ukraine. She started her artistic career in 2022 in response to russia full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Working across painting, graphics, comics, photography, digital media, and performance, Safarova explores themes of identity, memory, cultural heritage, gender, trauma and transformation.
Her work seeks to expose the invisible: making internalised experiences and collective silences visible, felt, and shared. Mythology, personal history, and symbolic archetypes form the core of her artistic vocabulary.
Safarova’s visual language often bridges the deeply personal with the mythic and the political, grounded in both the natural world and the layered cultural context of post-soviet and postcolonial experiences.
Her first solo exhibition took place in 2022 at the Kunstmuseum in Stuttgart, Germany. Since then, her work has been shown internationally, including at Santa Maria delle Grazie (Venice, Italy), Kühlhaus (Berlin, Germany), the National Museum of Ukrainian Folk Decorative Art (Kyiv, Ukraine), Mystetskyi Arsenal (Kyiv, Ukraine), and Poltava Art Museum (Poltava, Ukraine).
Her works are held in public collections in Italy, Belgium, and Ukraine.
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Contribute your perspective to the community & earn rewards. Leave your reflection below.
