Illustration for The Ural Tales 

Vyacheslav Nazaruk created this illustration for ‘The Ural Tales’ using watercolor. Here we see a woman in traditional dress standing at the edge of a forest. The Ural region, where these tales originate, spans through Russia. These folk stories often reflect the region's unique blend of cultures and its rich industrial history in mining. The woman's attire is a visual code that could be interpreted on different levels, referencing regional identity, social status, or even specific characters from Ural folklore. In post-Soviet Russia, illustrations like this one gained importance as they connected the audience to pre-soviet culture and identity. This work re-asserted a sense of cultural identity after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Understanding an artwork like this involves delving into folklore archives, studying the history of book illustration, and considering the socio-political context in which it was created. In this way, we can appreciate not only the beauty of the image, but also the artist's engagement with cultural memory.