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Zoya Cherkassky-Nnadi (formerly Zoya Cherkassky) is a Ukrainian artist, born in Kiev in 1976, who migrated to Israel in 1991. Her works generally depict her own experiences, both throughout her childhood in the Soviet Union, and in her migration to Israel. Cherkassky-Nnadi also helped found the New Barbizon Group with four other painters, all born in the U.S.S.R.

Soviet Childhood
In 2015, while Cherkassky-Nnadi was pregnant with her first child, she created a collection of art pieces depicting everyday scenes she observed throughout her childhood in a Soviet-ruled Ukraine. The works display particularities of her own childhood, such as her nightly routine of watching out the window for her mother to return home from work, as well as more general norms of Soviet life at that time, such as the cramped apartments that many people lived in, and the food that was commonly enjoyed during May Day festivities. Cherkassky-Nnadi has received mixed responses to her portrayal of the Soviet Union; while those who idolized the era criticize that she depicts too much poverty and depression, others suggest that she does not display enough the poor living standards that many people were forced into. Cherkassky-Nnadi is glad that her art has inspired people to express their passion for the former U.S.S.R., regardless of if that passion goes towards loving or hating it.

The New Barbizon Group
Cherkassky-Nnadi founded the group alongside four Soviet born artists also living in Israel. The name refers to the Barbizon School of Painters, a group active in France in the 19th century who encouraged realism both in painting and in perspective. The incorporation of African art allows the group to stray away from typical Western standards, while also allowing them to immerse themselves in the prominent African culture that exists in different areas of Tel Aviv. Due to the artists' own experience with immigration and the feeling of not belonging, they can identify with the African immigrants who are going through the same things the artists themselves went through. The group's works focusing on these African immigrants show the different burdens they carry, whether that be racially-motivated violence, or the anxiety that comes when one feels that they do not belong.