All tagged Edward Bakst

Interview with Edward Bakst

Can you share your journey towards becoming a successful artist? Were there any pivotal moments or challenges that shaped your career?

For me, life in general offered both challenges as well as inspiration motivating my strive forth, inspiring ideas and need for expressing and sharing my personal and emotional expressions. I deem that growing under Communism sparked strong rebellious reactions against feeling of oppression and lack of freedom of speech. My artwork of that period was very defiant. Yet, once a wave of antisemitism swept my former country, these feelings intensified. A new sense of pride in who I am arouse. It further intensified when I found myself being chased by many of my own classmates, now former friends, whose eyes and minds were soiled by governmental propaganda. Rebelling against being seen as less equal, I chose to resign my citizenship, becoming a political refugee, departing as both stateless as well as a persona non grata.