Thank you to all who have been so supportive as this piece came together. It was a lot of fun watching as some of you were guessing what I was doing. It is certainly a different kind of calendar. But then it’s been a different kind of month.
On 24 February, Russia invaded Ukraine and broke the peace in Europe. I watched in horror as Ukrainian families fled their homes, taking only what they could carry and leaving behind all the bits that make life a life. And I wondered about those bits.
So I thought to make a collage of mundane everyday pieces that one would have the luxury of thinking about during times of peace: a snack, play things, pretty fabric, a favorite sweatshirt, an extra pair of walking shoes, flowers from your garden, homemade tomato soup, an orange in winter, magazines, spring, hair ties, mixing bowls, a party dress, a yellow spatula, tulips, a new pen, a crisp bell pepper, a kitchen towel, public street art, one more duffel bag packed with woolens, dessert, coloring books, honey and yogurt, a breathing cage to go under your Covid mask.
But there are pieces missing to this Peace sign. For those, you’ll just have to Imagine.
this is brilliant, cristina. this doesn't just consist of things to photograph but how it will all come together. and you are so right about those things that we would think about in one quick quiet moment when we are in a situation like the poor people of ukraine, perhaps at night when one cannot sleep thinking of what is going to happen the next day -- things we all take for granted but luxurious to think about in such a situation. well done.
This is just the most wonderful creative thing. Your words really resonate with me, echoing how I've been feeling since this terrible war was started - how it's the little things one has been taking for granted. Thank you for expressing it.
@boxplayer Thank you! The news people always ask refugees, “What does peace look like?” And they always struggle to verbalize their answer. Peace isn’t some grandiose monument or thing. It really is about boring moments, the ability to walk down the street or reach for mundane things without an afterthought, isn’t it?
