This is me catching snowflakes on my tongue in Almaty. I made this painting in 2024, thinking back to the winter of 2023–2024, when the first snow didn’t arrive until December 9. It came much later than we were used to, and everyone had been waiting for it. I wanted to capture the happiness of finally stepping outside into the snow after wondering when it would come.
The warm streetlights and my red scarf carry that happiness into the cold night. But the long wait also made me think about warming winters, and how something I had always expected could become less certain. I wanted to paint a moment I love about home, with the hope that it would still be there when I returned.