Hello, my name is Svitlana Yurchenko.
I am a Ukrainian artist from Kyiv, born in 1988 in a small town called Pivdennoukrainsk. My mother worked in construction, while my father was employed at a nuclear power plant.
photo by Julia Gekhman
As a child, I discovered a few old sketches my parents had made in their youth. That moment sparked my first interest in drawing. At the time, I would sketch occasionally, though none of those early attempts were ever truly finished.
By late 2012, at the age of 23, I began experimenting with watercolor. Since I have no formal art education, I spent the first year simply familiarizing myself with the paints and gradually learning how they behave.
photo by Julia Gekhman
Painting is a defining part of who I am, though it’s far from the whole picture. At 23, I began exploring different types of boards, and by 27 it was skateboarding that captured me completely — sweeping me into a rush of emotion unlike anything I had experienced before.
After three years of persistence, the moment I finally landed my first kickflip was captured on video — and it went viral. You can find it here, It’s fun.
After russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, my life changed so radically that I don’t have enough words to describe it here. Since the fall of that same year, I’ve mostly been in Donetsk region (East of Ukraine).
Together with the Base UA team, we evacuate civilians, work with children, provide primary medical assistance, help rebuild destroyed housing, and relocate families with multiple children.
I am currently also a member of the Ukrainian volunteer medical battalion, Hospitallers. We provide assistance to injured soldiers.
photo by Madison Tuff
Even though I rarely have time to paint now, you can still find something for the soul in my online shop — it is always open.