Map of Quiet
Québec Coast · 2025-2026
Map of Quiet is a landscape series inspired by my journey along the coast of Québec — a place of rugged cliffs, seabird colonies, quiet fishing villages, and lighthouses standing at the edge of the sea.
I travelled through these landscapes with my family, from Bonaventure Island and Percé to the lighthouses along the Gaspé Peninsula. What interested me wasn't simply how these places looked, but how it felt to be there — the openness of the water, the movement of birds overhead, and the extraordinary sense of scale.
I don't paint these landscapes exactly as I saw them. Instead, each painting holds a particular moment from the journey: a changing sky, a distant shoreline, birds crossing open water, or the last light settling over a lighthouse.
Together, the works become a visual map of the journey — not of exact locations, but of the moments I remember most.
Each painting is a place I carried with me long after leaving it.
— Zhanna Samsonova
Shop PrintsOriginals
3 products
The Journey Behind the Work
Beginning of the Journey
The paintings began along the coast of Québec.
I photographed what caught my attention — cliffs, changing skies, lighthouses, birds, and the distances between them.
I wasn't looking for paintings yet.
I was simply paying attention.
Collecting the Moment
I travelled with my camera, collecting photographs and small details along the way.
On Bonaventure Island, thousands of Northern gannets filled the cliffs and sky.
Their movement later found its way into my paintings.
Becoming a Painting
Back in my studio, I return to the photographs — but I don't try to reproduce them exactly.
I change the light, simplify forms, move elements, and sometimes combine memories from different moments.
The photograph is where I begin.
The painting becomes something of its own.
Shop Prints
