In 2018, I moved from my hometown Moscow, Russia to The Hague, The Netherlands. I was always interested in staying in a different country, but when the initial curiosity was satisfied, I faced the need to simply live here, to find my spot in the new place. Expectedly I found myself an outsider who had lost the feeling of home. As a person from the post-Soviet space, I acutely felt that I don’t belong in this properly built, ideal Europe, as it seemed to me.
So I started using photography as a way of creating new connections with the space. I “appropriated” the space of the city through shooting the cityscape and parks, details, noticing flaws, and documenting them. My attention was attracted by the garbage that came under my feet. I collected it - discarded, unnecessary - and created fragile sculptures, taking photographs seconds before the decay, fixating the integrity which would not exist without my intervention and will remain only in the pictures. Working with nostalgia, I was bringing back the feeling of home through the recreation of childhood memories, playing the role of the little girl who felt safe and protected.
