It is said that curtains add the feeling of home

Ink on textile, installation, ongoing project, 2023

«…When you are forced to leave your home in order to survive, and you find a shelter somewhere else – there comes a period of denial, when you do not accept this place as your new home, because you still believe that you are going to come back to the real home soon. So you avoid creating any bonds with your new place. You don’t buy furniture apart from the most necessary things, you don’t decorate or refine the rooms, you don’t try to make the space «your own», «belonging to you» in any way.

But the weeks and months pass. And at some point you have to accept the fact that you have to stay in this place for longer time. For uncertainly longer time actually. And you lack feeling of home. Everyone needs to feel themselves at home – in a safe space, in a cozy space, the space where you’d be happy to come back too and where you’d be comfortable to rest from all stress and anxiety of the outside world. You begin with the smallest things – because you want to add this feeling of home, but still keep the dream of coming back to your real home someday. Fully accepting the idea that you will have to stay in some other city, other country for years – feels like surrender.

So yes, you begin with the smallest things. One of those are curtains. Many say that they immediately make the room more cozy. Like it is inhabited, like there’s some life inside. Curtains disperse the sharp light of unfamiliar sun, and also they cover you from unwanted eyes, eyes of the people among whom you can’t help feeling yourself a foreigner. And you can easily take them down and pack them with you when you move to another place, another city, another country or even a continent. Still it is just an illusion, a memory, a ghost – but if it makes you feel more safe and warm, why not hang those curtains on your window?…»