Elzara Oiseau
Location before the war
Crimea 2014, Kyiv 2022 πΊπ¦
Current location
Poland π΅π±
Instagram
Price range
From $300
My name is Elzara, I have been in Poland for several days now.
I come from the Crimea and moved to Kyiv immediately after the Russian occupation of Crimea in 2014.
As it turned out, I have been suffering from Russia all my life, starting with my great-grandparents.
I am a Crimean Tatar who was born in the wrong place. As the daughter of a deported people, I was born in Russia. But I spent all my childhood in the stories and dreams of my relatives, about the Crimea, that one day we will return.
Every summer, my grandfather and our whole family tried to come to the Crimea, where we managed to get a tiny piece of land, somewhere very far from civilization. But every year during the summer my grandfather built a house, he laid every brick with his own hands.
In 2000, my parents and newborn brother and I moved to the Crimea. It was very difficult. I was a teenager, and the change of life was quite difficult at this age.
My parents started life from scratch. We survived everything, both poverty and difficult conditions, but we were patient because we had a dream - to live on our land. And on this earth I learned what xenophobia is. There were enough Russians in Crimea (a lot of them moved in our homes in 1944 after the deportation of the Crimean Tatars), there were enough of them to make me feel what racism is in my homeland. I was constantly reminded and emphasized that I was not Russian, that I was not of Aryan origin. It's good that I was strong as a child, I didn't pay attention to it.
So we lived 14 difficult but happy years, and built our lives enough to live and rejoice. Until Russia came to our homes again in the spring of 2014.
This time I moved only with my husband. We were just the two of us. We had no relatives or acquaintances.
But there was a great desire to work, create, build.
And we succeeded. By ourselves, without any support. We created our own jewelry brand, jewelry was made according to my sketches. My husband learned to manufacture everything on his own.
We had 2 workshops. Jewelry, and art, where I created my works of art.
But they came again.
They destroyed my home, which I had dreamed of all my life. My own home that we have been trying to buy for so many years! They destroyed all of Irpin. As well as other cities of my already native Ukraine. War.
From the beginning of the winter of 2021, I felt that war was absolutely possible, that it was approaching. This was noticeable even in my work. Anxious notes and plots appeared more and more.
When the situation on the borders of Ukraine became quite difficult, I had no doubt that war was inevitable, that it was only a matter of time. Why was I sure? Because I know Russians very well.
From January until the very first day of the war, I created several paintings dedicated to the war. But the last one, which shows a girl changing her heels into military shoes, which she started on February 23, I never finished.
But I hope more.
I also hope that very soon I will write canvases about our victory and the strength of the Ukrainian spirit.
The morning of February 24 remains and probably remains the worst moment of my life. That first sound of a rocket can not be compared to anything. But it still echoes in my head. Even the subsequent bombing of Irpin, the city where I lived, cannot erase this terrible sound, after which we lived for weeks in the basements of our houses, moving from one basement to another, hoping that this one will be more reliable. When the situation became completely unbearable, we went to Kyiv, but it was the best decision for the whole war, because the next day, Irpin was completely blocked. But with each passing minute, it became more and more like horror movies, where dead people are just left on the street, and no one can even pick up their bodies because of the constant shelling.
The day I learned that the Russians had destroyed my home, I realized that almost nothing was holding me back, and I decided to fight on my art front.
I collected everything I had time from my workshop and took it to Poland on my own. It was very difficult to leave my favorite city. My Kyiv is going through the most difficult times, and I couldn't leave it for a long time.
Now, during the war, my works take part in exhibitions abroad, the sales of which go to help Ukraine and our army.
I want to continue my creative activity as much as possible, even with the last efforts, because we need to talk about our pain.
I come from the Crimea and moved to Kyiv immediately after the Russian occupation of Crimea in 2014.
As it turned out, I have been suffering from Russia all my life, starting with my great-grandparents.
I am a Crimean Tatar who was born in the wrong place. As the daughter of a deported people, I was born in Russia. But I spent all my childhood in the stories and dreams of my relatives, about the Crimea, that one day we will return.
Every summer, my grandfather and our whole family tried to come to the Crimea, where we managed to get a tiny piece of land, somewhere very far from civilization. But every year during the summer my grandfather built a house, he laid every brick with his own hands.
In 2000, my parents and newborn brother and I moved to the Crimea. It was very difficult. I was a teenager, and the change of life was quite difficult at this age.
My parents started life from scratch. We survived everything, both poverty and difficult conditions, but we were patient because we had a dream - to live on our land. And on this earth I learned what xenophobia is. There were enough Russians in Crimea (a lot of them moved in our homes in 1944 after the deportation of the Crimean Tatars), there were enough of them to make me feel what racism is in my homeland. I was constantly reminded and emphasized that I was not Russian, that I was not of Aryan origin. It's good that I was strong as a child, I didn't pay attention to it.
So we lived 14 difficult but happy years, and built our lives enough to live and rejoice. Until Russia came to our homes again in the spring of 2014.
This time I moved only with my husband. We were just the two of us. We had no relatives or acquaintances.
But there was a great desire to work, create, build.
And we succeeded. By ourselves, without any support. We created our own jewelry brand, jewelry was made according to my sketches. My husband learned to manufacture everything on his own.
We had 2 workshops. Jewelry, and art, where I created my works of art.
But they came again.
They destroyed my home, which I had dreamed of all my life. My own home that we have been trying to buy for so many years! They destroyed all of Irpin. As well as other cities of my already native Ukraine. War.
From the beginning of the winter of 2021, I felt that war was absolutely possible, that it was approaching. This was noticeable even in my work. Anxious notes and plots appeared more and more.
When the situation on the borders of Ukraine became quite difficult, I had no doubt that war was inevitable, that it was only a matter of time. Why was I sure? Because I know Russians very well.
From January until the very first day of the war, I created several paintings dedicated to the war. But the last one, which shows a girl changing her heels into military shoes, which she started on February 23, I never finished.
But I hope more.
I also hope that very soon I will write canvases about our victory and the strength of the Ukrainian spirit.
The morning of February 24 remains and probably remains the worst moment of my life. That first sound of a rocket can not be compared to anything. But it still echoes in my head. Even the subsequent bombing of Irpin, the city where I lived, cannot erase this terrible sound, after which we lived for weeks in the basements of our houses, moving from one basement to another, hoping that this one will be more reliable. When the situation became completely unbearable, we went to Kyiv, but it was the best decision for the whole war, because the next day, Irpin was completely blocked. But with each passing minute, it became more and more like horror movies, where dead people are just left on the street, and no one can even pick up their bodies because of the constant shelling.
The day I learned that the Russians had destroyed my home, I realized that almost nothing was holding me back, and I decided to fight on my art front.
I collected everything I had time from my workshop and took it to Poland on my own. It was very difficult to leave my favorite city. My Kyiv is going through the most difficult times, and I couldn't leave it for a long time.
Now, during the war, my works take part in exhibitions abroad, the sales of which go to help Ukraine and our army.
I want to continue my creative activity as much as possible, even with the last efforts, because we need to talk about our pain.
How you can help Elzara today
Elzara has physical work in stock for sale.