KOSHMAR

In August of 2025, my family on my mothers side visited us in America for two weeks. At the end of those two weeks, I had to wave goodbye and send off my family back to Kharkiv, Ukraine. There's a deep sense of guilt and hopelessness that comes from being in that position. You can’t help but blame yourself for not doing enough, blame yourself for being born here, for being safe when your own cousin is working as a medic on the frontlines. The same hands you hugged goodbye with feel bloodstained with the knowledge that your government, funded by your tax dollars, is perpetuating the suffering of your own people. Inspired by the painting of Ukrainian realist artist Ilya Repin's Ivan the Terrible and His Son on 16 November 1581, this painting delves into the complexities of being a Ukrainian-American today.