Svetlana Kaminsky was born on November 25th, 1954 on the coast of the Baltic Sea in Jurmala, Latvia. She became interested in art at the age of 11 when she started to paint her first watercolours and to copy the drawings of the old masters, (Russian painter Alexander Ivanov and Leonardo da Vinci). She graduated from high school in 1972 and took courses in medicine till 1975, continuing to draw and paint.
When she realised that drawing and painting were consuming her free time and that she did not want to live in a communist country, she left the Medical Institute hoping to immigrate to Europe or America. Since then, her entire life has been dedicated to art.
She did not graduate from any art college or academy; she studied old masters in Hermitage by copying their works for a couple of years. She had some guidance and advice from some underground, non-conformist artists. The first was Alexander Arefiev, who, after seeing her works, inspired her to leave the Medical Institute.
Her art from the beginning was expressive and could never be accepted by Soviet art committees. She presented her drawings for review only once. The work was rejected because of its «inappropriate theme». By the end of the 70s, local collectors began to buy her artwork and so did some art collectors from America, Germany, and Switzerland.
At first, influenced by Chinese philosopher Laozi, she illustrated his main work, Tao Te Ching. Then F. Dostoyevsky and Kurt Vonnegut influenced her changed style and themes.
This period was of dark fantasy of a desperate soul forced to live under totalitarian power.
Slowly in her graphics, she found the deep and hidden way to survive in an ungodly country and the series «Old Man and Woman» reflects that. In their hidden world, the characters are surrounded by phantasmagorical stilllives. Her style finally found its completion based on two of her favourite artists Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn and Paul Cezanne. Almost no material objects are left around the old man surrounded by children as if there is nothing left in the world of pure teaching and learning about the great mystery of life. At the age of 25, she finally emigrated from the Soviet Union to obtain so much-desired freedom from the communist suppression and totalitarian regime, which she never could learn to tolerate or accept.
Her last work was named «Life of Christ». It consisted of large, never-before-attempted black-and-white graphic works made using a complex technique (Indian ink, water, brush, and pen). After 1984, she retired from public life, leaving the contemporary world to dedicate herself to the spiritual life as a nun. She left all of her artwork to her brother, Eric Ershun, the first and most faithful among her numerous supporters, to whom she dedicated her last graphic work «My Brother».