Katya Molchanova explains that plants serve as a key medium for her work, a passion rooted in her childhood. Every summer as a child, she would spend time either in the yard or at her grandmother’s village. Like many kids, she and her friends built entire imaginary worlds using leaves as currency, sand and dandelions as food, and their own set of rules. She now takes these childhood games as the foundation for her art. This, she believes, is why so many viewers comment that her creations remind them of something they did as kids—making nails, petals, leaves, decorations, and flower wreaths.
Although she isn’t a professional makeup artist, cosmetics are an essential tool for her imagery. In her masks, she always leaves clean areas of the face visible—lips, eyes, and often eyebrows. She adds shimmer so they catch the light beautifully in photos. When autumn arrives and she longs to recall the scent and look of summer, she reaches for bright lipsticks, highlighter, and fragrances. The scents in her collection are tied to summer and blooming flowers.
