About
Myroslava Boikiv is a Ukrainian-born artist based in Toronto, working across watercolour and textile practices. Her work explores memory, material, and the transformation of traditional forms through contemporary processes.
Born in Prykarpattia, a region rich in craft and artistic traditions, in the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains, she was shaped by the visual culture of rural life — domestic environments, handmade objects, and close observation of nature. These early experiences continue to inform her artistic language.
Myroslava studied art in Ukraine and later worked for over a decade with museum collections, including the National Museum of Folk Art of Hutsulshchyna and Pokuttya, and later as a curator at the Pysanka Museum in Kolomyia. This long-term engagement with traditional material culture remains central to her practice.
After moving to Canada in 2016, she continued to develop her work through both watercolour and textile. Her practice brings together intuitive mark-making and structural thinking, combining immediacy with repetition, and gesture with construction.
Her textile works incorporate traditional techniques alongside reclaimed materials, exploring themes of migration, adaptation, and the continuity of cultural knowledge. These works extend her interest in rhythm, layering, and the physical presence of material.
Myroslava’s work has been exhibited in over 20 cities across Ukraine, Canada, the United States, and internationally. She is a member of the National Union of Artists of Ukraine and Craft Ontario.
ARTIST STATEMENT
My practice is shaped by memory, material, and direct observation.
I work intuitively, allowing the image to emerge and develop through the process.
I am interested in how memory manifests through simple forms — through repetition, rhythm, and the physical presence of material. Whether working with watercolour or textile, I approach each piece as an open structure where control and unpredictability coexist.
Time plays an important role in my work. Some processes are immediate and intuitive, while others are slow and constructed. This movement between speed and duration reflects my experience of making, where attention, presence, and continuity shape the outcome.
I do not aim to fix an image, but to follow it as it develops. What remains essential is the sense of life within the work — something observed, lived, and carried forward through material.