Doukhobor Paintings 2026

I paint Doukhobor women in the their white platki (headscarves), long skirts, hands resting in laps, women sitting together on wooden benches, women at choir, women after choir, women working, women standing and sitting. Their figures fill compositions of bold colour and simplified shapes, often set against the mountains of British Columbia’s West Kootenays. What does it take for a culture to survive, and what have its women carried to keep it alive? I return to Doukhobor women because their everyday lives hold histories of faith, resistance, labour, and belonging that public accounts often overlook. I work primarily in oil paint, using broad areas of colour and reducing detail to give weight to posture, clothing, and the space between people. A platok (headscarf), a shared bench, or the way two women sit together can carry the meaning of a painting. Drawing on family photographs and inherited stories, I paint these women with the presence and immediacy of people who still matter. I want someone to feel that these women deserve to be seen and remembered. For those who share this heritage, I hope there is recognition: “We belong here.” For others, I hope the paintings bring their own mothers, grandmothers, and inherited histories closer.