Iryna Belova-Smorzh - Ukrainian artist

I was born in Kyiv in 1964 to a family of an aviation university teacher and an editor of a scientific journal. Since childhood, I have been fascinated by various types of art, but drawing was my greatest passion: sometimes I would make sketches in notebooks even at public transport stops - long before creativity became my life's calling.

In 1986, I easily entered the Faculty of Architecture of the Kyiv Civil Engineering Institute, and later, in 2001, I founded an interior design studio. In 2005, I opened the Iryna Belova-Smorzh Author's School of Architecture and Design. Returning to drawing during the 2008 crisis, I began a deep search for my own artistic “handwriting”, working with oil, watercolor and graphics…

In 1999, God freed me from severe alcohol addiction, and in 2006, healed me from cancer. I wrote a book about this, “Getting Out and Staying Alive,” which has since been translated into 18 languages. As an artist who uses a wheelchair (for now!) I rely only on trust in my Savior.

Since 2020, I have been working mainly in pastel and graphics techniques — it is here that my faith, discipline and contemplative vision of the world are most fully revealed. I continue to create in Kyiv in my small studio on the 16th floor even now, in wartime, despite almost daily and nightly shelling…

Creative credo My work is based on portrait art (pastel, graphics), painting and watercolors; it is distinguished by a special sensitivity to human character, memory and spiritual essence. I am attracted to subtle details that reveal the inner world of a person: facial expression, gesture, light and atmosphere - something that goes beyond simple resemblance and speaks to the soul. My path in art has been through architecture, interior design and teaching, but later I returned to drawing as a source of peace, tranquility, concentration and renewal. Since then I have been searching for my own visual style, working with oil, watercolor, pastel and graphic techniques; in recent years, pastel has become my main language. My work draws on life experience, faith, and observation, often addressing themes of resilience, tenderness, and hope. For me, art is not only a form of self-expression, but also a way to provide solace, connect, and witness the beauty and strength of the human spirit.