Zoryana Khrouchtch

Sweet Sixteenth

Littered with specks of reds, the piece symbolizes my fragmented appreciation for the women of my family's maternal side. Although I was unable to meet my maternal grandmother, the bits of knowledge I have surrounding her life extend to the jewelry passed along to my mother. The practice of exchanging and/or passing along valuables formed a physical element to connectedness within a family split between Canadian and Ukrainian spaces. Jewelry became an object of honouring and appreciating kinship, rather than fashion or self-expression. As I intertwine with pieces of my mother's jewelry, the physical nature of each piece brings me peace, conflicted with a sense of cultural disconnect.