Black Sea 2008 Oil on linen 78 x 90 in. (198.1 x 228.6 cm)

This painting is dedicated to the memory of Tatiana and Tamara Sotkilava, my mother's aunts, who froze to death in the mountains while fleeing the ethnic cleansing of Georgians during the war in Abkhazia.

Sukhumi is a city on the Black Sea coast of Abkhazia that was attacked and occupied by Russian forces in 1992. In the Georgian language, Sukhumi means "hornbeam tree."

In 1993, the Georgian cities of Ochamchire, Gagra, Bichvinta, and Otobaia were also occupied. Sochi was incorporated into Russia in 1922. The name Sochi comes from a Georgian word meaning "fir tree."

The painting was completed in July 2008, just weeks before the Russian 58th Army invaded and occupied additional Georgian territory in South Ossetia, forcing another 100,000 people to flee their homes.