“A female figure with her back to the viewer stands at a window, through which shines a wintry light illuminating individual strands of her light blonde hair. Chilean artist Nelson Hernandez’s spectral portrait of his Ukrainian friend, Kseniia, captures a brief moment in time: ‘I was moved by her stillness as she gazed out the window.
Suddenly, the drawing in her hoodie evoked in me a scene of war, a metaphor of her past and the burden she carries.”
This piece is now part of the Herbert Smith Freehills Portrait Award 2025 at the Portrait Gallery. The previous text is what’s displayed in the gallery, but personally, I’d like to thank Kseniia for being the inspiration behind the work and for helping me bring it to life.
Gallery
