Road to Blues – Natasha Mikhailova

Exhibition Saturday April 1 – Saturday May 6 2023

Our April exhibition introduces a new artist to both the gallery and Edinburgh. Natasha arrived in Edinburgh during lockdown in 2020. This is her first UK solo exhibition.

Road to Blues is a series of works which are called ‘The road’ and dedicated to Ukrainian refugees escaping ongoing war in their country.

Road through Snow, original acrylic on canvas 80 x 40 cm £325.00 part of the original art exhibition by Ukrainian artist Natasha Mikhailova

The artist’s parents lived all their lives in the Ukraine, but in March 2022 they were forced to flee the war. It took three days to reach the Polish border with the last 18 hours of the journey spent standing outside in the cold and snow with thousands of other refugees queuing to enter Poland.

When they finally arrived in Krakow, Natasha’s parents had to be carried into the apartment as they couldn’t walk, through a combination of exhaustion, stress and general fatigue.

A refugee from Kyiv, who now lives in Scotland with a host family, saw the ‘Road to Blues’ painting. Having spent time in a few countries before ending up in the UK, very often not knowing where she and her son would spend the next night, she mentioned that her road was in pure darkness…..that’s how ‘Road to Black’ was born.

Road to Black original acrylic on canvas 100 x 100 cm £395.00 part of the original art exhibition by Ukrainian artist Natasha Mikhailova

“But regardless of the colours,” says Natasha, “all these roads are the Roads of Hope, leading to a better future.”