Camera obscura is an optical device, a dark chamber holding living reflections of the world, upside-down, inside-out. Here is a camera obscura of the soul yearning for continuity between different worlds. This installation is a reflection by Hannah on our personal trajectories, holding on to hope for a better world.

Longing has defined the past few years of Duvar Kolektiv. Echoing conversations repeat between us: “take me with you”, “it’s just a few months till we meet again”, “I wish I could stay”, as we have been separated physically by economic forces, global hierarchies of knowledge, family obligations and accessible mobility. Another, “better”, world winks seductively to us at every corner, if only we could reach it. It is an idealization that goes hand in hand with a disappointment with reality.

What we desire and need, could it be hiding in that teetering tower of empty shoe boxes in the corner of the room in Plovdiv? In the stuffy smelling suitcase of photographs under the bed in Newcastle? In a story I need to ask my grandma to tell me again before she forgets? We wonder if you, dear visitor, have gone through this: moving between different worlds, searching for something else, and trying to not lose yourself in the meantime? This installation attempts to stitch together our familiar and distant everyday landscapes. We offer you these tender moments and some sweets from our grandmas, in the hope you and your shadows find some comfort on your own journeys.