Unapologetic, 2026

Viktoriia Kolesnykova  

Unapologetic reflects on the moment when a person stops negotiating with their own nature. When the desire to meet the expectations of others gives way to a willingness to embrace one's own complexity.
The work explores the inner conflict between the need to be accepted and the need to remain true to oneself. Between the desire to meet expectations and the right to one's own contradictions. What is often perceived as harshness, stubbornness, selfishness, or excessive strength appears here not as a flaw, but as an integral part of the self.
The work does not present a struggle between light and darkness. It speaks of the moment when that struggle loses its meaning. When a person stops dividing themselves into what is right and what is wrong, and recognizes their own contradictions as a form of wholeness.
Unapologetic reflects on a state in which there is no longer a need to justify one's own nature. No need to prove, explain, or hide. Simply to be oneself.
The work was created as part of The Dark Side of Light series, which explores the inner complexity of human nature and those aspects of the self that often remain outside the boundaries of a socially accepted image of who we are.

This painting is sold stretched on a wooden stretcher frame and is ready to hang. The artwork measures 120 × 100 cm (47.2 × 39.4 in).