Kyiv artist creates portraits from dill, leafy greens, and spices (PHOTOS)

Nadiya Antonets has come up with a creative answer to the Russian slur of referring to Ukrainians as ukrop (dill in Russian) – by using the herb in her portraits.

Korupciya.world reports citing  Kyiv Post

A graphic artist and illustrator from Kyiv, she didn’t expect her foodstuff collage portraits to gain popularity so rapidly. But after posting several pictures online, she even landed a commercial offer to make a poster using vegetable leaves, spices, and tea.

“This series of portraits was conceived for Facebook, just to cheer up myself and my friends,” she wrote on her Facebook page on July 23.

“I was amusing myself at a design contest while painting a portrait of (Ukrainian national poet Taras) Shevchenko,” Antonets wrote. “I put a mustache made of fresh dill on it.”

She dedicated her first photo portrait to a friend on his birthday, putting together spring onions and dill in the shape of a head, and adding a beard made of garden parsley.

“My choice of subjects is solely personal. So please don’t suggest yourself to me, or lawmaker (Gennadiy) Korban,” she wrote referring to the lawmaker who leads the new Ukrop political party.

To create a portrait, Antonets selects a photo and paints a sketch. Then she selects suitable greenery and spices and arranges tiny details with a pair of tweezers and paintbrush.

“I prefer men with beards, because first of all it looks beautiful, and it also allows me to make it textural and interesting,” she said.

Finally, she takes a photo of the composition at her kitchen table and retouches it with a photo editor. It takes a whole day to create one portrait.

Antonets likes to use a mix of natural materials. For instance, when creating a portrait of her friend and artist Ivan Mikhaylov, she selected black tea, ground coffee, cumin, and two dried rose petals for his cheeks.

A housewife with a 6-year-old son, Antonets also paints mugs, canvas bags, and clothing with pictures of mythical animals. Although the herbal portrait series started spontaneously, Antonets says she has no plans to drop it while she still enjoys the process.

“I want to express love, sympathy, support, and respect for those people with whom I am personally familiar,” she wrote. “They are bright, charismatic, talented, and creative personalities whom I admire and who inspire me, living and working in Ukraine and for Ukraine.”