ll i t s e l p o 'Pe ' p l e h d nee
Ukrainian-born local photographer offers her talent to support her home country By Hannah Hoffmeister | Photos provided by Olena Swoboda
W
orking in the arts seems only natural for Olena Swoboda.
Growing up in a small city in central Ukraine, she loved spending time with her grandparents.
Her maternal grandmother made handmade rugs and embroidered clothing and traditional towels, and her paternal grandma was an artist whose paintings hung in galleries. “I always wished I had this talent, but
I did not,” the Elburn photographer says. Swoboda went to photography school and did private lessons with a photographer in Ukraine in 2017, then moved to Kane County in 2018. ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT MAY 2022
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