Painting by Olena Koliesnik

Is it possible to escape from something that has burned you out from the inside forever? Even if you are physically in the safe of Spain, images of destruction overtake you without permission. The coffee shop where you drank coffee every morning before work is blown up. There are no walls left of the university in Rubizhne, which was in the eastern part of Ukraine, along with the teachers. These terrible shots are superimposed on happy memories, eating them up. The external chaos breaks through. This is a tragic and therapeutic image that it is impossible to escape from war by simply crossing the border. This work has no fixed order in the series. I leave it to the viewer to determine for himself where he is now: at the beginning of the escape, in motion, or at the moment when he finally allows himself to approach his own loss. “From War” is a work from the “Escape” section of the “Solomon’s Paradox” series. Solomon’s Paradox is a collection of 18 works created at the intersection of psychology, survival instincts, and my own personal experiences of emigration. The series emerged from revelations shared with me on Instagram, and explores the moments when a person’s inner reactions determine their choices. Spain, 2024