Daria Vergina

I spent a long time wondering why I kept returning to the horizon. Over time, I realized that I had never painted landscapes. My only subject has always been the human being—their inner world and their capacity to move beyond their own limitations. In my work, I explore the horizon as an inner state. For me, it is not the line between sky and earth, but a territory of transition between fear and trust, limitation and freedom, who we have been and who we are still capable of becoming. The horizon does not exist outside us; it exists within. It continually recedes as we move forward, becoming a metaphor for human experience and inner expansion. My perception has been shaped by phenomenological thought and by the understanding of the horizon as an ever-expanding boundary of human experience. My paintings therefore invite viewers to move beyond habitual ways of seeing and open themselves to the possibility of encountering themselves differently. I am interested in the moment when familiar points of reference no longer function, and a person finds themselves compelled to take a step into the unknown. It is precisely within this space of uncertainty that an encounter with the self becomes possible. My works create a space where viewers can pause and meet their own inner horizon. I work with abstraction because it leaves room for personal experience. Using acrylic paint and a restrained palette of blacks, greys, whites, and warm natural tones, I create contemplative compositions in which colour carries meaning and the line becomes a metaphor for a fragile, constantly shifting boundary. I intentionally preserve areas of emptiness and the traces of the brush's movement. Within this minimalist visual language, a space of silence emerges—one in which the viewer becomes an active participant in the work.