
Not From Here - and That Was My Strength
I was born in the sun-drenched lands of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan - places rich in patterns, color, and ancient wisdom. From childhood, I felt the world differently - more sharply, more deeply, through color and form. Art was not a hobby, but the language my soul spoke.
But childhood was not easy. Racism and nationalism were not abstract concepts from textbooks; they were what I faced head-on as early as kindergarten. Social pressure, the feeling of being an outsider, the impossibility of being accepted as you are. My family did not protect me, so I had to learn to defend my own dignity by myself, from a very young age.
The feeling that has always stayed with me is: I am not from here. Yet this very sense of not fitting into the surrounding world turned out not to be a weakness, but a signpost. It led me to search for something greater.
God, beauty, and creativity became my salvation.


