Diana Yevtukh’s work is a breath of fresh air in a world of embroidered samplers and ornate cross-stitch pieces. By using embroidery to add depth to the ordinary, she breathes new life into her surroundings. Yevtukh is Ukrainian, and her homeland inspires many of her pieces. She often uses embroidered flowers and birds to fill in the notches of trees and rusting pieces of metal. This transforms the otherwise mundane environment into something extraordinary.

“The neighboring home’s cracked concrete,” Yevtukh tells us, “dipped tinplate or a once handcrafted and now ragged old mesh fence is fantastic in how they aid to highlight my embroidery personality and charm.”

Yevtukh is a local Lviv-based artist who changed her focus after Russia invaded Ukraine this year. “My entire world of blossoming flowers was turned upside down,” she remarks. “It’s similar to being tortured inside after your heart has been broken into. So much agony, helplessness, dread, and despair, interspersed with flashes of hope.”

Yevtukh started to rethink her old embroideries after the invasion. “I began rebuilding my previous works digitally to represent my present feelings,” she adds. “The trees’ bark was burnt. The tree’s spirit wept blue and yellow tears. The flowers’ fields were encircled by gloom, and the bombers darkened them. In the end, hope follows those sad emotions: eventually, spring will return, and flowers will continue to bloom.”