HOPE WITHOUT FEAR 

Nadya Buka is an artist who works with nail scissors. She creates paper fairytales for children and adults. Immersing yourself in Nadya’s naive, touching work feels like jumping down a rabbit hole. Children discover fairy-tale worlds with Nadya, and adults discover a world without evil and fear. 

Nadya was born into the family of an artist on December 2, 1981 in the small Belarusian city of Molodechno. 

Despite the fact that Nadya had been drawing since childhood and was preparing to become an artist, she chose to become a journalist. But over time, the inner writer and artist “became friends” and Nadya began illustrating children’s books, of which more than 20 have already been published. In 2018, Nadya was chosen as one of the top five best illustrators in Belarus. In her work, Nadya Buka has transformed the traditional Belarusian art of vytinanka (a papercutting technique) into “butinanka”, and now cuts out pictures from coloured paper using ordinary nail scissors. 

In 2020, as a consequence of participating in political protests in Belarus, Nadya was blacklisted which resulted in a ban on involvement in exhibitions throughout the country. By this time, Nadya had been painting for two years. In 2021, 7 of her paintings were removed immediately after the opening of her personal exhibition in Grodno for the use of the white and red color combination. In November 2022, pursued by security forces, the artist was forced to flee the country and emigrated to Poland. In March 2023, Nadya took part in an exhibition of emigrant artists at the Museum of Free Belarus in Warsaw. In 2023 — 2024, Nadya Buka will exhibit in Italy. The first personal exhibition opens in Pisa, then in Florence, Verona and Rome. All of them are held under the same name “Hope without fear”. In exile, she continues to illustrate books of poetry for children and create paintings, the main themes of which are freedom and human rights. 

Currently, the artist is working on a series of portraits of prominent contemporaries, as well as teaching at an art studio in Warsaw. 

 “My paintings are symbols. The compositions are laconic and minimalistic but each one contains a deep meaning or philosophical subtext. In my works, I reflect on roots and how important it is to keep in touch with them, about God and Christian symbols, about world problems such as ecology and freedom. I often create paintings based on the works of my favorite artists (Picasso, Chagall, Klimt, Munch), reinterpreting them and adding my own symbols. In self-portraits, I show my thoughts and experiences. 

I create paintings using ordinary nail scissors, thereby reviving the traditional Belarusian art of vytinanka. I have transformed it into modern interior paintings. I also paint with acrylic on canvas, using contrasting shades, and often outline the figures with a black graphic line, making my compositions more holistic. 

With my art I want to free myself and free the viewer from the superficiality and commotion that sometimes interferes with seeing the truth. I show art through symbols that everyone reads in his own way, and everyone is right. Through complex content, I go to a simple and concise form”.