A young girl crouches at the sea's edge, one hand reaching into a breaking wave as the foam rolls up over the wet sand. Touching the Sea is an oil on canvas by Alexey Slusar from 2024, upright at 70 by 50 centimetres.

She wears a coral-pink dress, red sandals and a floppy sun hat printed with pale flowers, her face shaded under the brim. The foreground is shallow, clear water over orange-brown sand scattered with pale pebbles, with the white spill of the wave at the right. The paint is thick and worked, especially in the foam and the hat, and the warm dress sits brightly against the cool greens of the water behind.