Oksana Bodnariuk is a Ukrainian-Canadian multidisciplinary artist based in Ottawa, Ontario. Her beadwork and crafts are inspired by vintage fashion, as well as Ukrainian and Canadian folk crafts. Her main interest is in preserving the traditional cultural heritage of her birthplace region of Ukraine - Bukovyna.
Shortly after she immigrated to Canada at the age of twenty, Russian forces began forcefully and illegally annexing the region of Crimea from Ukraine. While observing the intentional erasure of Ukrainian roots in Crimea through the renaming of locations and destruction of cultural artifacts under Russian occupation, Oksana became driven to better learn and preserve her culture through her craft.
Since then, the annexation of Crimea has been followed by the horrific invasion of the rest of Ukraine by the Russian military - leading to thousands of documented Russian war crimes and acts of genocide.
As a result, Oksana is even more fiercely committed to the cause of keeping her cultural heritage alive in honor of her ancestors and the defenders of her homeland.
Слава Україні!