DARIA SHUGAIEVA

ARTIST BIO

Daria Shugaieva is a Ukrainian-American contemporary artist whose practice centers on themes of transformation, vulnerability, and inner becoming. Working primarily with painting, she develops a symbolic visual language rooted in recurring motifs such as the egg, fragmented faces, birds, and emerging forms—images that reflect moments of rupture, transition, and quiet resilience.

Shugaieva’s work explores the emotional states that arise when familiar structures collapse and identity must be reshaped from within. Rather than depicting transformation as a dramatic breakthrough, she focuses on its most fragile stages: hesitation, intuition, and the subtle courage required to move forward without certainty. Her figures often appear suspended between protection and exposure, suggesting that growth begins not in confidence, but in openness.

Drawing from personal experiences of rebuilding life in a new cultural context, her paintings carry a deeply introspective yet universal tone. Soft color palettes, dreamlike spaces, and delicate symbolic details invite slow viewing and reflection, allowing the viewer to enter a contemplative dialogue rather than a fixed narrative.

Shugaieva has presented her work in exhibitions and art fairs in the United States and continues to develop cohesive series that function as visual essays on becoming, awareness, and inner clarity. Her practice is guided by an interest in the quiet forces that shape human change—those that are often unseen, unnamed, yet deeply felt.


ARTIST STATEMENT

My practice explores moments of transformation that emerge through vulnerability rather than certainty. I am drawn to the fragile stages of becoming—those quiet intervals when the old self has already fractured, yet the new one has not fully formed. These moments are often overlooked, but they are where true change begins.

Recurring symbols such as the egg, cracked surfaces, fragmented faces, birds, and subtle signs appear throughout my work as metaphors for protection, exposure, intuition, and inner movement. The egg, in particular, functions as both shelter and limitation: a space that once nurtured life, yet must eventually break to allow growth. Within these ruptures, I place figures that appear cautious, reflective, and alert—figures that do not rush forward, but listen.

Rather than presenting transformation as a linear ascent or triumphant resolution, I approach it as an intimate and nonlinear process. Small details—floating forms, quiet symbols, gentle gestures—act as silent companions, suggesting guidance rather than answers. Luck, clarity, and courage in my work are not sudden revelations, but subtle presences that accompany us as we move forward without guarantees.

Visually, I work with soft atmospheres and restrained color to create spaces that feel suspended in time. These environments invite contemplation and emotional proximity, encouraging the viewer to slow down and reflect on their own moments of transition.

Ultimately, my work is an exploration of becoming—not as an ideal state to reach, but as a continuous, tender act of trust in oneself and in what has yet to unfold.