Indiana Petkovic and Jeremy Pryslak have joined Australian-Ukrainians across Victoria showcasing their creativity in recently-released book The Art of Lockdown.
Hamlyn Heights fine arts student Indiana contributed a pair of embroidered jeans to the statewide project, which features everything from paintings to chalk drawings and cupcakes.
“[Embroidery] was something new that I started because I want to develop the relationship between my culture and my art,” the 20-year-old said.
“In Ukrainian culture embroidery is very common – it’s passed through generations of women and my grandmother taught me those skills that she learned from her mother.”
The book resulted from authors Chrestyna Kmetj and Natalia Moravski collating work from across Victoria’s Ukrainian community via social media earlier this year.
“I was a bit hesitant and didn’t think people would be interested in my work, but it turns out I was completely wrong!” Indiana said.
While embroidery is new for the RMIT art student, she has been interested in drawing and painting for as long as she can remember.
“In high school it went from being a hobby to something I wanted to pursue a career in,’ she said.
For 25-year-old Geelong West youth worker Jeremy, the opposite is true.
“I’m not really an artist, I just had a lot of time in lockdown,” he said.
“I followed the page and thought I’d add my own addition.”
His drawing of friends from Scouts appears in the book, which he said was made possible by Victoria’s tightknit Ukranian community.
“It’s really easy to get community traction if it’s a good idea and that’s what happened essentially.”
Luke Voogt
