Ulyana Smakova

Ulyana Smakova is a professional artist from Kazakhstan living and working in Finland in the Art Center Järvilinna ().
Ulyana was born in Kazakhstan, and she has come a long way before finding herself in Finland fell in love with the forms of water and forest. Her favorite way of painting is oil on canvas using a palette knife, but he also loves experimenting with acrylic and watercolors with different types papers. Ulyana finds her inspiration in nature, people and cultures.
Before she came to Finland, she changed several professional fields from a kindergarten teacher and seller to a professional Japanese language translator and a secretary in the embassy of Japan in her country. In her 40ths, she ended up in Finland, planning to improve her skills in the field of international communication. However, life changed plans, and she decided to stay in this country for a longer time as a professional artist.
She started painting as soon as she moved to Finland in 2016. The radical changes in life, the language barrier and social exclusion during the first month of immigration on the one hand, and the sense of security and inner freedom she unexpectedly felt here, the other hand, gave her the energy and inspiration to paint. On a ga...

Self-taught artist

Solo exhibitions
2020 HIAA Annual Exhibition (Helsinki International Artists' Association), Art space Asbestus, Helsinki Finland
2020 “What is behind those mountains?”, Taidekeskus Järvilinna, Finland
2020 "Three countries", Hoikkasaali Äänekoski Finland
2020 ”Tangle of Fears”, Palkki Gallery, Jyväskylä Finland
2019 “Reimagining identity”, Matara Käytävä Galleria, Jyväskylä Fonland

Group exhibitions
2017 ”Our Vaasa”, Atelje Torni, Vaasa, Finland