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Portrait of great-grandfather Vladimir Vashchenko—a Ukrainian rural elder who resisted both Nazis and Communists, lived through the Holodomor, and fought in WWII with a Bible sewn into his coat.


The Soviets took my great-grandfather Vladimir Vashchenko's land, rights, and voice.

They never broke his will.

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Babushka Nadya, Ukrainian grandmother, at the edge of the Pacific—exile, wind, and the next generation at her feet.

Grandmother Nadya carried our family through war, famine, tyranny, and oceans.  

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My father Pavel as a young man in Soviet Ukraine. He sang songs like the rebel musician, Viktor Tsoi, but his songs were of faith. He was also the only one in his hometown to resist tyranny openly.

My father Dmitri—

even his smile is a quiet rebellion.

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Luxury Rolex ad above, Portland's ruin, grafitti, urban decay below with lone figure caught in between.
Viktoriya Volkov and brother Mark in front of Powell's Books in Portland, Oregon, living the story of homelessness, mental illness, and the Ukrainian legacy of systemic oppression and trauma.

My brother Mark.

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Searching for freedom

on the streets of Portland.

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Blue tarp tent and belongings on grass near a fence and statue of Jesus, representing Portland homelessness in Ukrainian Monster: An American Story.

Stay in the field.

© 2025  V. V.

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