Presented as part of PrintAustin, a monthlong festival spotlighting Austin’s printmaking scene, Gratovich’s decadelong project is up to seven towering works in what will be an eight-piece series (final print The Fool should be done by the end of the year). Each piece centers a matryoshka-esque doll figure, complete with elemental names like The Mariner, The Hunter, or The Mother. Their black shadowed eyes stare outward. Wrapped in richly decorated robes and surrounded by plants, the rounded figures offer stylized symbols of their trade – an arrow-riddled whale, a curled rabbit, the sheltered face of a child.

The latest exhibition debuts The Healer, a massive being decked in an elaborate smock, crowned with leaves and webs. Mossy greens and browns spotlight sprouting fungi at the doll’s feet. Intricate details – the spiderweb headpiece, the whorls of the smock, overlapping leaf tendrils – invite closer scrutiny. The mind whirls to draw mythic connections in each inked element. The other six prints equally evoke alluring riddles. Why the drooped bird in The Builder? What is held in The Undertaker’s tiny coffin? Are the trees in The Mother there to show personal growth or ancestral roots?

According to Gratovich, “Carrying Things From Home” consciously stems from her own cultural landscape. The dolls and textiles pay homage to her Ukrainian heritage. The flora and desert-tinged color palette nod to her Texas home. One of the oldest prints, The Musician, is directly inspired by her history. Here the doll holds a large accordion, a lit cigarette dangling from its lips. This harks back to Gratovich’s grandfather, a Ukrainian refugee during World War II. He fled the country but took his accordion, which he used to entertain American troops in exchange for cigarettes. The archetype holds the actual tokens seen in the story.

This series is a labor of love, heavy emphasis on the labor. Gratovich uses the chine collé woodcut technique, where a paper design is overlaid on the woodcut to add color and dimension.