Anastasiia Tumko

My practice begins in that moment when looking hesitates — where light and shadow start to reveal hidden stories, and certainty slowly dissolves. My work explores the illusions of control, questions of identity and autonomy — personal, artistic, and moral. I am drawn to the cracks that appear in moments of personal and collective crisis, and to the relativity of truth, always leaving space for questions that have no final answers. Working across traditional painting and more conceptual forms, I create emotionally charged figurative works that focus on faces, bodies, and psychologically tense scenes. Alongside these, I make interactive pieces in which the viewer becomes an active participant. In all my work, I seek to provoke both a cognitive and emotional response — testing the strength of our convictions and reflecting the contradictions of contemporary reality.

I was born in Ukraine and currently live and study in London. I am completing my BA in Fine Art: Painting at the University of the Arts London (graduating in 2027). My practice began with academic drawing and figurative painting, with a strong emphasis on portraiture and the human form. Through a series of thematic projects addressing justice, biological and social hierarchies in crisis, and the instability of identity in the age of AI, I gradually shifted toward more conceptual and interactive forms. I continue to explore how contemporary art can leave a trace of its time, reflecting its complexities, contradictions, and emotional reality.