My grandmother’s family came from a small village in Belorus (BeloRussia). At the beginning of the war in 1941, she was a young woman working in Moscow. The Germans attack came from the south, the village where she lived was taken over, all the Jews were gathered and shot. Among those shot were my grandmothers parents, grandparents and her three year old son Boris (whom I am named after). The painting “Grief” recalls my personal connection to the events of WWII through my grandmothers stories, as well as being a universal symbol of the tragedy of loss connected with war anywhere and at any time. In that painting there is a lot of attention to the state of the landscape, the ominously clouded sky and the cold, snow patched earth. The landscape of Russia has been very important for me as well. I feel that it is through the atmosphere that I was trying to express the emotion of the scene.