Although I come from Eastern Europe, my relationship with nature has always drawn me to other cultures. I am mesmerised by how they view nature and respect her. Their respect towards animals, plants, soil and elements. How they value things that might seem mundane to us. Things like daylight, rain, sunrise and sunset.

Being limited by what the internet offers, I decided I must go directly to the source of my inspiration. I went to Albuquerque, New Mexico. It is a place where the ground is so high that it feels like you are walking in the clouds. Here I was close to other places I wanted to visit. I had a lot of time to think. I wanted to get closer to what I only had a chance to read about before. I wanted to get for a while a different mindset. I decided to observe people from Native American culture and speak to them directly. I had thousands of questions and I am still processing everything I learned. 

Maybe one day I will be able to describe it in words, but for now, I am putting it all on paper in my art so I can share it with you. The thing that struck me was the fact that according to Native American culture, we do not only have one sign, an animal, but a "totem animal".

My interest in getting to know myself motivated me to create more animals. The fact that I (partially) got to know another culture has made me aware that there is not just one sign for each of us. In some cultures, they attribute human qualities to the animals they know using animals located directly in the area in which they live.

The following drawings are a combination of animals I have observed in New Mexico and animals that are symbolic and located in Europe. I plan to add more and I believe that each of us will find our own.