Yaroslava Naumenko’s interview describes a collection across her hands, back, neck, chest, hips and legs. She has worked with tattoo artist Polina Medvedeva for years; the photographs show connected floral color, sleeve work and smaller ornamental details.

Naumenko says she doesn’t count the tattoos as separate pieces: “They pass into each other.”

The collection begins with a covered first piece

Her first tattoo was at 17: a dragon from a catalogue, which she later called ridiculous and said was done by a weak artist. She says it was covered; elsewhere, she describes an old design that was nearly erased after repeated laser sessions. The published photos do not show the dragon clearly enough to describe its placement.

Color, memory and the body map

Naumenko says a new image begins vaguely, becomes clearer over several days, and is then discussed with Medvedeva. The artist draws the sketches; Naumenko says she does not edit them because the imagined characters already feel familiar.

The photographs show a body map rather than isolated pieces: floral work spreads from the neck to the chest, and both arms carry large sleeves. Red, pink, green and blue sit beside black outlines and darker shading.

She names flowers, spikes and lace as subjects she likes, and mentions tattoos made with her cats. The interview does not identify every flower or attach a separate meaning to each figure.

Naumenko calls the tattoos a thin armor and says they give her a clear sense of self. She also describes the work as magical and recalls an artist describing one tattoo as protection from the evil eye.

Flowers and ornamental color across the neck

Flowers and leaves fill the front and sides of Naumenko’s neck, rising toward her jaw and continuing down to the upper chest. Red and pink petals stand out against green leaves, dark outlines and ornamental borders.

The neck piece spreads wider than a collar. Lace-like edges and small decorative marks frame the larger blossoms, matching Naumenko’s interest in lace as a tattoo subject.

Floral sleeves and the linked upper-arm pieces

Both arms carry dense floral sleeves that run from the wrists up toward the elbows. Red and pink flowers sit against green leaves and dark outlines; the designs wrap around the arms, so the composition changes as she turns them.

Larger blossoms anchor the upper-arm work, with fine ornamental marks filling the spaces between them. The color and linework continue the floral designs across the sleeves.

Chest imagery beneath the floral neck piece

Flowers and decorative forms continue from the neck onto the upper chest. The open shirt and white top in the photographs show how the color reaches toward the shoulders.

The chest work links visually with the upper-arm sleeves rather than ending at the shoulder line. Naumenko describes the designs as pieces that run into one another.

The back, hips and legs in the continuing record

Naumenko says her back is already tattooed and that work has begun on her hips and legs. She also describes the buttocks, ribs and solar plexus as areas for future tattoos; the interview does not establish that all of this planned work is complete.

The portraits show the neck, chest and arms most clearly. Naumenko’s account supplies the wider plan, but it does not map every design on her back or lower body.

Smaller lace motifs across the tattoo collection

Naumenko mentions cats, spikes and lace among the subjects she likes, and says she has tattoos made with her cats. The interview does not identify a particular photograph as a cat portrait.

Lace appears as an ornamental edge around the neck and chest flowers, while spikes add sharper shapes among the softer petals. The images show these details as part of the larger designs, not as a separate inventory of small tattoos.

What the published photographs establish

The interview places the collection across roughly two decades, beginning with the covered dragon and growing into connected color work on the neck, chest and arms. Naumenko says the back is tattooed and describes the hips, legs, buttocks, ribs and solar plexus as continuing work.