Hanna Afanasieva

I paint what makes me stop and look twice.

It can be the movement of fish beneath the surface of water, the silhouette of a tree, a road disappearing into the landscape, or a quiet place that most people would simply pass by. I am interested in the moment when something ordinary suddenly reveals its character.

I was trained in classical painting, but I do not want technique to become the subject of my work. For me, technique is a language. What matters is what remains after the first impression: a mood, a memory, a feeling of movement or stillness.

Nature has always been central to my work. I do not see it as a background for human life, but as something with its own presence and rhythm. Water can become a space where different lives and directions meet. A tree can feel almost like a portrait. A landscape can hold a memory without showing a single person.

After moving from Ukraine to Switzerland, my visual world changed. Mountains, lakes, unfamiliar light and new landscapes entered my paintings, while the sensitivity shaped by the places I came from remained.

I paint intuitively. I can begin with something I have seen, but I allow the painting to change while I work. I am not looking for a perfect copy of reality. I am looking...

National Academy of Fine Arts and Architecture, Kyiv, Ukraine — Faculty of Painting
Theatrical and Art College, Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine

October 2025 — Solo Exhibition, DISPO, Nidau, Switzerland