Russian resistance

My painting tonight is of Alla Gutnikova, one of four former editors of the publication DOXA, a Russian student-run journal publishing anti-war and anti-government material, currently considered one of the most active, reliable, and popular sources of information about the war in Ukraine. The four editors were put on house arrest in April 2021 for posting a three-minute video expressing support for students threatened with expulsion for participating in anti-government protests; they were sentenced this past April to two years of collective labor.

I was initially attracted to her image (in addition to her work as an editor, she also models), and then read up on her, which made me want to paint her even more. She is only 23, but is astonishingly literate and bravely outspoken; I'd like to quote her entire final speech she made at her trial, in which she both speaks from her own heart and also quotes some amazing people, but it's very long, so I'll just feature these quotes:

Tarkovsky speaks in the words of Lao Tzu:

“The most important thing is that they believe in themselves and become as helpless as children. Because weakness is great and strength is null. At birth people are supple and weak; at death, they are tough and stiff. When trees grow they are soft and flexible, and when they become dry and hard, they die. Stiffness and strength are the concomitants of death; softness and weakness express the freshness of being. Thus what has grown hard will not conquer.”

Mahmoud Darwish says:

As you prepare your breakfast, think of others
(do not forget the pigeon’s food).
As you conduct your wars, think of others
(do not forget those who seek peace).
As you pay your water bill, think of others
(those who are nursed by clouds).
As you return home, to your home, think of others
(do not forget the people of the camps).
As you sleep and count the stars, think of others
(those who have nowhere to sleep).
As you liberate yourself in metaphor, think of others
(those who have lost the right to speak).
As you think of others far away, think of yourself
(say: “If only I were a candle in the dark”).

And in her own words, "Freedom is the process by which you develop a practice for being unavailable for servitude."

If you'd like to read the entire speech, it's here.

She was even paler of complexion than I managed to preserve in this painting, but I got a little carried away with the subtleties of color in her face. My scanner cut off about a half inch at both top and bottom (it scans 9x11 and this is 12x12).

"AllaGutnikova"—gesso, stencil, and Paul Jackson watercolors on Fluid 140-lb. coldpress paper, 12x12 inches.