Galerija Prečna

Alina Kovalova is a self-taught contemporary artist born in Ukraine and now living in Slovenia. The opening of this exhibition coincides with the fourth anniversary of her arrival in Kamnik, where she settled following an unexpected turn in her life. Over time, this medieval town became more than a place of new beginnings; it evolved into the environment where her deeper artistic exploration began to take shape.

I first met Alina sometime later in the gallery, where she appeared as a shy and attentive observer moving quietly through the space. At the time, Galerija Prečna had just completed its first major international collaboration in Kamnik — Expect the Unexpected — which brought together 18 international artists exhibiting across multiple locations throughout the medieval center of the town.

Working only in oil, Alina uses color and texture to explore memory, emotion, and presence. Her work focuses on the female body not as an object, but as a space of energy, vitality, and transformation. Her figures carry both strength and quiet fragility, reflecting cycles of beginning and ending, growth, and introspection.

As a rehabilitative physical therapist and energy practitioner, Alina brings a deep understanding of the body, emotion, and consciousness into her artistic practice. This perspective gives her work a subtle depth that resonates beyond the canvas.

There are few real things left in the age of technology — things that we can feel, touch, and perceive. How happy we could become to find something deeply moving in the outside world. –Alina