“But it’s hard to stay sane here, in the shadows. It eats away at
you, knowing the walls have ears, that the windows have eyes.”
– Yevgeny Zamyatin, We
you, knowing the walls have ears, that the windows have eyes.”
– Yevgeny Zamyatin, We
Raised in a family where women were taught to remain hidden, suppress self-expression, and conform to societal expectations, I was unaware of how these constraints shaped my life until adulthood. The post-communist transition left scars on the society outside and within the spirit of the house where I grew up. This project emerges from those early memories, where showing any part of myself, my thoughts, my voice, and my expression felt risky. In those times, I learned to hide, to stay quiet, and to protect myself from a world that often felt unpredictable.
Far from being a sanctuary, the house reflected an inner conflict: a place of shelter, silence, control, and fear. Its walls carried the weight of an era; within them, a monster grew, a presence nurtured by the tension and mistrust of those times. The work focuses on interiors, shadows, and concealed spaces as metaphors for the hidden anxieties and tensions passed down through generations. The project reflects the delicate balance between the desire for self-expression and the compulsion to remain silent, offering a visual language to represent a legacy of repression and resilience.
The loop in the title refers to how past experiences continue reverberating, shaping how we interact with the world long after the initial disruptions have passed.
Central to this project is the concept of memory, which shapes identity while being inherently fragmented and subjective. Through photography, I approached memory as an active process, embracing its distortions and omissions. Self-staging became a ritual, a performative exploration of my past.
Childhood objects, from curtains to dried flowers, played a crucial role in shaping the visual language of this project. The mirror in my bedroom, once a source of self-scrutiny, evolved into a portal for self-exploration. Curtains that had once shrouded the room in privacy became a symbol of concealment and revelation.
Exhibition view “In The Space Between Words”, Copeland Gallery, London, 2025.
Photo: Laura Bivolaru / Paulina Korobkiewicz
Photo: Laura Bivolaru / Paulina Korobkiewicz