Anchor points
“To stand, I must cling to the roots” (c) Boris Grebenschikov, Russian rock musician
The project ‘Anchor Points’ is about understanding one’s identity through the lens of family history and through the analysis of historical parallels. I think about what a person in emigration can rely on, how their perception of the family as the root system of life in a new country becomes more acute. I explore how memory transforms into the foundation for a new home, into the source of support for navigating the traumatic experience of self-determination in emigration.
Emigrants: they are neither here nor there; they are attached but untethered. They have one foot firmly on the ground, but only one. They are neither what they were, nor what they will be.
We are our own guides in the search for identity, in the search for support amid complete uncertainty and isolation from our familiar surroundings, our home, our loved ones, and the context in which we were shaped as individuals and have spent most of our lives. This search directs us to our roots, our ancestors, the history of our family and, indeed, history in general. Who am I? What am I made of? What defines my identity?
Photo book created and printed in Serbia, in 2022-2023.