06/24/2026
The figures in her work are totemic beings that explore personal and cultural identity; vessels based on the form of the stacking matryoshka doll. They are adorned in textiles and patterns informed by Indigenous Ukrainian textiles, embroidery, and ceremonial dress, as well as vintage American western wear. “The patterns are used to allude to distant homelands- places that are lost or cannot be returned to,” Gratovich says. Flora and fauna of the American South and Southwest adorn and surround her figures, rooting them in place and symbolizing interdependency, resiliency, and generational survival.
Image: Annalise Gratovich, The Musician, 2017, woodcut with hand dyed chine collé, 71 x 41 in