🇪🇺 TEEN European Digital Community: Autumn Maple Tree from Kharkiv, Ukraine

Autumn Maple Tree

I’m a creative person who loves exploring the world through art. I’m especially drawn to theatre, along with literature, history, and music. I enjoy attending cultural events and volunteering, because being part of a community feels meaningful and energising. I spend a lot of time drawing and writing poetry, and theatre often becomes a space where these worlds meet: it inspires images, words, and new ideas. Sometimes I also join performances when invited, mainly for the joy of teamwork and creative exchange. In the future, I hope to keep growing as an artist and to share my work more — for example through an exhibition or other public projects.

The soil / the need
I came to theatre looking for a way to move beyond the limits of physicality and social presence. As a neurodivergent and non-binary person, theatre felt like a space for transformation.

The first seed
Theatre as masks, metaphors, and poetic images — not a fixed “self,” but a place to shift and become something else.

Tell us about that first spark
Watching a performance I chose made me realise theatre can speak about real life and home, and about love and connection even under difficult circumstances — art that captures the atmosphere of our lives.

Roots (people & experiences that shaped your path)
Independent art spaces and friends who create theatre. Their passion and friendship shaped my path and made me feel part of a creative world.

The trunk (what keeps you in theatre)
Community and belonging. Theatre spaces make me feel safe, supported, and motivated to keep creating.

Branches (future / desire)
I don’t aim to be a professional actor, but I want theatre in my life: joining projects, working in a team, and finding inspiration for my drawing and poetry.

Are you currently involved in cultural activities?
Yes, regularly.

If you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be? Why?
A small maple in a loud city in autumn: fragile but colourful leaves, and deep, strong roots.

Instagram: @ex_rkbu