Midsummer, 2026

Viktoriia Kolesnykova  

Across many cultures, the summer solstice has been regarded as a moment when the boundary between humanity and nature becomes more permeable. It is a time when light reaches its greatest strength, plants are in full vitality, and life seems to reveal itself in its fullest expression.
In this work, the forest is a space of memory. The female figure does not stand apart from nature or observe it from a distance; she is its continuation. The plants both conceal and emerge through her body, dissolving the boundary between the human and the living world.
The fern evokes ancient ideas of hidden knowledge—knowledge that cannot be acquired through reason alone. It belongs to the body, instinct, the memory of nature, and the cycles of life of which we remain a part, regardless of time or culture.
The painting reflects on those aspects of human nature that have long remained in the shadow of civilization: sensuality, corporeality, intuition, our connection to the earth, and the ability to trust our own inner knowing.
Midsummer is a reflection on the moment when we stop separating ourselves from the world and remember that we have never truly been apart from it.

**This painting is sold unstretched and will be shipped rolled in a protective tube. The image size is 90 × 72 cm (35.4 × 28.3 in). The canvas measures 100 × 82 cm (39.4 × 32.3 in), with an additional 5 cm (2 in) of canvas on each side for stretching over a wooden stretcher frame.