Nastasiya Zabela

Nastasiya Zabela is an independent artist and researcher working at the intersection of humanities-based studies and visual art. She graduated from the European Humanities University in Graphic Design and later completed a Master’s degree in Archaeology at the University of Warsaw, where she is currently a fellow of the Young Scientists from Eastern Europe program. Her practice focuses on the archaeology, cultural memory, and mythologies of early-medieval steppe societies, especially the Khazar Khaganate. What began as illustrating the “Book of Khazars” gradually developed into academic research into steppe material culture, a process that continues to shape both her academic work and her artistic expression. She is interested in how folklore and myth function as frameworks of meaning and how they retransmit within contemporary contexts. Nastasiya participated in the 2024 Rog Creathon as part of a woodworking team led by Rok Kuhar. During her 2025 residency at Center Rog, she will reinterpret Slovenian folklore and heroic narratives, examining how figures such as Martin Krpan or Peter Klepec resonate today, suspended between legend and lived reality.