These pieces represent the beginning of a body of work embedding traditional Ukrainian crafts into family photographs. Through this juxtaposition I am searching for the connections between my recent familial history and Ukrainian identity.

While my cultural heritage is made up of many nationalities my most accessible link is to the Ukraine through my maternal grandfather who immigrated to the United States in 1954. I have not experienced the culture as a Ukrainian national yet I have witnessed the culture through the incorporation of artifacts, photographs and stories into my child/adulthood and personal visits to family still living in Ukraine.

Entering into this work has raised many questions that are, as of yet, unanswered. Some of these questions are:
What does it mean to be part of a culture to which you have never belonged?
What is my relationship to my cultural heritage?
What place does it have in my life?
What is lost in the transition from one culture to assimilation into another?
What affect does this transition have on the descendants of the immigrant?
What is lost to the descendants of emigrants? Can/should it be regained?
How do descendants of emigrants access their cultural heritage?
How has/does my family/cultural history influence my life?