The Fern Flower, 2026

Viktoriia Kolesnykova  

In Slavic mythology, the fern flower blooms for only a single night. It is sought by those who wish to discover what is hidden, to see what usually remains invisible. In this painting, the mythical flower becomes a metaphor for feminine nature—its strength, sensuality, intuition, and profound connection with the living world.
The flower is placed at the center of the body, in a space symbolically associated with creative energy, physicality, and the ability to bring forth something new—not only life itself, but also feelings, meaning, and transformation. In many cultures, women have been expected to restrain and control those aspects of their nature that were considered too powerful, too wild, or impossible to contain. Sensuality, sexuality, intuition, emotional depth, and a connection with one's own body have often been overshadowed by socially accepted roles. Yet these qualities are an inseparable part of human wholeness.
Within the context of the series The Dark Side of Light, this work turns to those aspects of the self that remain hidden not because they are dangerous or wrong, but because they do not fit established ideas of who a person is expected to be. Like the mythical fern flower, they exist on the boundary between the visible and the invisible, the conscious and the unconscious.
The Fern Flower is a reflection on returning to one's true nature, embracing one's inner complexity, and restoring the connection with the part of oneself that remains alive, primal, and free, regardless of external expectations.

**This painting is sold unstretched and will be shipped rolled in a protective tube. The image size is 90 × 60 cm (35.4 × 23.6 in). The canvas measures 100 × 70 cm (39.4 × 27.6 in), with an additional 5 cm (2 in) of canvas on each side for stretching over a wooden stretcher frame.