Show me the way by Darya Sokolova
Explore Mondoir Studio
Medium: Acrylic on canvas
Dimensions: 75 x 100 cm
Year: 2024
Price: $2100.00 USD
Status: available
I painted this piece thinking about that first year in Dubai, seventeen years ago now, when every single day I was silently asking: "Show me the way." The compass rose replaces one eye because I was constantly searching for direction in a place where I couldn't read the signs, didn't speak the language, didn't know which way was home. The bold colors and dynamic patterns, stars and polka dots, capture how overwhelming yet magical everything felt. Lost, yes, but also full of wonder. Those words repeating across the canvas, "Show me the way," weren't just a prayer, they were my daily mantra. Show me how to belong here. Show me how to build a life from nothing. This painting is about the vulnerability of not knowing, the courage of asking for help, and trusting that somehow, the way reveals itself, not all at once, but step by uncertain step.
Why collect this work?
A compass rose replaces one eye while a repeated plea fills the other side, presenting orientation as a search conducted through both image and language.
- Sokolova states that the painting recalls her first year in Dubai, when unfamiliar language and signs made finding direction difficult. This intention connects the compass and refrain to a specific memory of migration without fixing their meaning for every viewer.
- The face is divided by a bright orange contour. On one side, the compass is enclosed and precise; on the other, handwritten phrases overlap coloured marks and become partially obscured, shifting from clear request toward visual noise.
- The documented acrylic medium supports the painting’s opaque colour fields, emphatic outlines and layered lettering. These contrasts flatten portrait, pattern and text into competing signals rather than a coherent pictorial space.
- The work is particularly relevant to encounters with autobiographical portraiture because it converts remembered disorientation into two distinct devices: a navigational emblem that appears certain and a mantra whose repetition suggests that certainty remains unavailable.
About the Artist
Darya Sokolova
Darya Sokolova is an artist on Mondoir Studio. Artistic discipline: painting. Based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Nationality: Kazakh
I create art for women who refuse to blend in. My portraits are bold, symbolic, and designed to be the statement piece in any space.
