About Yuliia Malkina Bohuslavska

I am a contemporary botanical watercolor artist currently based in France. Originally trained in political science and journalism, I spent many years working in political media before eventually shifting my focus entirely toward art.

My artistic practice was deeply shaped by years of traveling and living across Southeast Asia, particularly in Vietnam, where I became fascinated by the intensity, scale, and fragility of tropical nature. Surrounded by dense vegetation, luminous color, and constantly changing climates, I developed a lasting interest in the delicate tension between vitality and impermanence.

Watercolor became the ideal medium for exploring these themes. I was drawn to its balance of precision and unpredictability — qualities that continue to define my work today. Through layered washes, granulating pigments, and close botanical observation, I create paintings that combine contemporary botanical sensibility with increasing attention to classical botanical detail and realism.

Although I am strongly inspired by Asian aesthetics and visual culture, living in Europe has shifted my attention toward the plants and seasonal changes surrounding me now. My work often focuses on translucency, texture, subtle imperfections, and the quiet emotional presence of living forms.

When the war in Ukraine began, I was forced to leave behind my studio and much of my previous life. Rebuilding my artistic practice from almost nothing profoundly changed my relationship with painting. Art became not only a creative discipline, but also a way to restore attention, stillness, and connection in a world increasingly shaped by noise, speed, and violence.

Through my paintings, I hope to invite viewers into a slower and more attentive way of seeing — one rooted in observation, fragility, and the restorative power of nature.