This project is a research on an identity of a modern woman grown in the post-Soviet environment - a research on my identity.

I always remembered having a happy childhood. Born just five years after the fall of the Soviet Union, in the east part of Ukraine, I have always been told how fortunate I am not to have lived under the Soviet rule. However, in my late twenties, I find myself feeling lost and confused about who I actually am. This has led me to undertake a search for myself by revisiting my memories and reevaluating them as an adult.

As a child, I had happy moments, such as enjoying my mother's sour cherry varenyky or climbing trees. However, I also grew up in harsh conditions and was raised with a severe Soviet discipline that has shaped me into who I am today. Most of the people around me during my childhood were Soviet people, including my family, teachers, neighbours, a saleswoman in a corner shop, the president. Unfortunately, I am currently separated from my family due to the war that Russia has waged on Ukraine, and I am unable to return home. Therefore, I am using photography as a means to travel back to the east of Ukraine, back into the past, and recollect pieces of my identity by de- and re- constructing my childhood memories.

This project is ongoing.