Emigrant Series
A series of embroidery on photographs and postcards, connecting two cities and reflecting an attempt to let go of one's former home in order to build a sense of a new home within oneself. Embroidery is a powerful burst of energy born from tactile sensations and purely manual work.
The theme of home and new cities in our lives is very relevant right now. I think this is true for many of us, wherever we are: in emigration or in our hometown, anywhere. The world is becoming more and more fragile, but we need to stand firm. This is where the fusion of photography with cityscapes and embroidery comes in, where each stitch pierces not only architectural details and cityscapes, but also personal memories that already exist or are yet to come.
The "Emigrant series" is about gently letting go of the past and cultivating a new sense of home.
The series is divided into two parts: St. Petersburg and Berlin.
The theme of home and new cities in our lives is very relevant right now. I think this is true for many of us, wherever we are: in emigration or in our hometown, anywhere. The world is becoming more and more fragile, but we need to stand firm. This is where the fusion of photography with cityscapes and embroidery comes in, where each stitch pierces not only architectural details and cityscapes, but also personal memories that already exist or are yet to come.
The "Emigrant series" is about gently letting go of the past and cultivating a new sense of home.
The series is divided into two parts: St. Petersburg and Berlin.
Part One: Saint Petersburg
The first part is based on photographs by St. Petersburg photographer Boris Smelov. I embroidered on postcards released as part of the exhibition ‘Boris Smelov's St. Petersburg’ at the Museum of City Sculpture (15 November-15 December 2010, St. Petersburg).
I bought the set of postcards at the St. Petersburg bookshop ‘The End of a Beautiful Era’ — another symbolic accent based on the theme of memories and nostalgia.
I bought the set of postcards at the St. Petersburg bookshop ‘The End of a Beautiful Era’ — another symbolic accent based on the theme of memories and nostalgia.
Embroidery on postcards from the exhibition ‘Boris Smelov's Petersburg’ (Museum of City Sculpture, 15.11-15.12.2010, St. Petersburg).
Postcard, muline threads, tram ticket, yarn / 10x15 cm / 2025
The embroidery uses a fragment from a poem by Marina Tsvetaeva. The postcard itself, the place where the photograph was taken - Universitetskaya Embankment in St. Petersburg, as well as the tram ticket - are united with the text of the poem in a single space of nostalgia, making us feel the presence in that point of the past time, which can be recreated only in a poetic image woven with the help of the collage method.
The warm points of contact with the personal in this embroidery are complemented by elements such as a tram ticket. I asked a friend to give me this ticket before leaving for another country, when we were sitting in the kitchen late at night, drinking tea and talking about everything under the sun.
Postcard, muline threads, tram ticket, yarn / 10x15 cm / 2025
The embroidery uses a fragment from a poem by Marina Tsvetaeva. The postcard itself, the place where the photograph was taken - Universitetskaya Embankment in St. Petersburg, as well as the tram ticket - are united with the text of the poem in a single space of nostalgia, making us feel the presence in that point of the past time, which can be recreated only in a poetic image woven with the help of the collage method.
The warm points of contact with the personal in this embroidery are complemented by elements such as a tram ticket. I asked a friend to give me this ticket before leaving for another country, when we were sitting in the kitchen late at night, drinking tea and talking about everything under the sun.
Embroidery on postcards from the exhibition ‘Boris Smelov's Petersburg’ (Museum of City Sculpture, 15.11-15.12.2010, St. Petersburg).
Postcard, muline thread, yarn / 10x15 cm / 2025
The embroidery uses a fragment from a song by the band "Night Snipers", which very accurately reflects the state of life in the mysterious, complex, but so attractive city of St. Petersburg. Boris Smelov captured the very heart of St. Petersburg, its spiritual component. The author of the embroidery makes an attempt to layer one sense of the city on another. To combine the poetics of the invisible with a literal shot of the city.
Postcard, muline thread, yarn / 10x15 cm / 2025
The embroidery uses a fragment from a song by the band "Night Snipers", which very accurately reflects the state of life in the mysterious, complex, but so attractive city of St. Petersburg. Boris Smelov captured the very heart of St. Petersburg, its spiritual component. The author of the embroidery makes an attempt to layer one sense of the city on another. To combine the poetics of the invisible with a literal shot of the city.
Embroidery on postcards from the exhibition ‘Boris Smelov's Petersburg’ (Museum of City Sculpture, 15.11-15.12.2010, St. Petersburg).
Postcard, muline thread / 10x15 cm / 2025
By combining different layers of culture: Boris Smelov's photograph and Sergei Dovlatov's quote, I am trying to preserve a very fragile image of St. Petersburg in my heart. Literally, just like in Smelov's photograph. Imagine: the first snow of November, and we find ourselves in a film from the late Soviet era, walking along a deserted embankment into the distance to the sound of a lonely oboe...
A completely different life awaits us, with new colours and shades of emotion. We are already ready, or just preparing to absorb this other life. But for a couple of moments, we linger in the poetic image of the slipping city.
Quote on the card: «Какими бы разными мы ни были, всё равно остаются: Ленинград, мокрый снег и прошлое, которого не вернуть... Я думаю, все мы плачем по ночам» (Сергей Довлатов).
Postcard, muline thread / 10x15 cm / 2025
By combining different layers of culture: Boris Smelov's photograph and Sergei Dovlatov's quote, I am trying to preserve a very fragile image of St. Petersburg in my heart. Literally, just like in Smelov's photograph. Imagine: the first snow of November, and we find ourselves in a film from the late Soviet era, walking along a deserted embankment into the distance to the sound of a lonely oboe...
A completely different life awaits us, with new colours and shades of emotion. We are already ready, or just preparing to absorb this other life. But for a couple of moments, we linger in the poetic image of the slipping city.
Quote on the card: «Какими бы разными мы ни были, всё равно остаются: Ленинград, мокрый снег и прошлое, которого не вернуть... Я думаю, все мы плачем по ночам» (Сергей Довлатов).
Embroidery on postcards from the exhibition ‘Boris Smelov's Petersburg’ (Museum of City Sculpture, 15.11-15.12.2010, St. Petersburg).
Postcard, muline thread / metallic thread / 10x15 cm / 2025
In this work, I strive for a careful gesture of appropriation: I do not simply decorate the image — the head of Apollo from the Summer Garden in St. Petersburg — but enter into tactile contact with it through the use of textiles. Behind this lies an emphasis on the dual nature of reconstructing the past — we inevitably transform the object we seek to approach. No matter how many times we try to address our past, this address will be overlaid with new spiritual layers due to events that change us in the present in one way or another.
An additional meaning in this work is the intervention in the reproduction of the canonical face, creating a tense dialogue between the ‘eternity’ of ancient marble and the living, handmade materiality of the stitch. This comparison reflects on memory, time and the vulnerability of cultural images.
Postcard, muline thread / metallic thread / 10x15 cm / 2025
In this work, I strive for a careful gesture of appropriation: I do not simply decorate the image — the head of Apollo from the Summer Garden in St. Petersburg — but enter into tactile contact with it through the use of textiles. Behind this lies an emphasis on the dual nature of reconstructing the past — we inevitably transform the object we seek to approach. No matter how many times we try to address our past, this address will be overlaid with new spiritual layers due to events that change us in the present in one way or another.
An additional meaning in this work is the intervention in the reproduction of the canonical face, creating a tense dialogue between the ‘eternity’ of ancient marble and the living, handmade materiality of the stitch. This comparison reflects on memory, time and the vulnerability of cultural images.
Embroidery on postcards from the exhibition ‘Boris Smelov's Petersburg’ (Museum of City Sculpture, 15.11-15.12.2010, St. Petersburg).
Postcard, muline thread / 10x15 cm / 2025
Bright threads, reminiscent of blossoming flowers, bring a sense of life, warmth and growth to the harsh St. Petersburg landscape, as if the city were momentarily revealing a hidden layer of its own poetry.
Floral motifs, executed in cross-stitch, create a soft counterpoint to the architectural geometry of the photograph. Rough bricks, dark pipes and sharp shadows find a new neighbour — the fragile, almost intimate texture of hand embroidery. This combination emphasises the multi-layered nature of urban memory: the heavy footsteps of history and the tenderness of personal experience exist in the same space, dissolving into each other. The image of blossoming here reflects a quiet resistance to time in this work.
Postcard, muline thread / 10x15 cm / 2025
Bright threads, reminiscent of blossoming flowers, bring a sense of life, warmth and growth to the harsh St. Petersburg landscape, as if the city were momentarily revealing a hidden layer of its own poetry.
Floral motifs, executed in cross-stitch, create a soft counterpoint to the architectural geometry of the photograph. Rough bricks, dark pipes and sharp shadows find a new neighbour — the fragile, almost intimate texture of hand embroidery. This combination emphasises the multi-layered nature of urban memory: the heavy footsteps of history and the tenderness of personal experience exist in the same space, dissolving into each other. The image of blossoming here reflects a quiet resistance to time in this work.
Embroidery on postcards from the exhibition ‘Boris Smelov's Petersburg’ (Museum of City Sculpture, 15.11-15.12.2010, St. Petersburg).
Postcard, muline thread / 10x15 cm / 2025
In this work, the austere, classical landscape of St. Petersburg is literally transformed into a theatrical stage. A miniature theatre curtain appears above the black-and-white photograph. This gesture introduces an element of lightness and playfulness into the familiar urban motif, creating a subtle, ironic distance between the viewer and the image.
The bright red curtain makes the frozen classical cityscape unexpectedly dynamic: I invite the viewer to ‘raise the curtain’ and see a familiar place as part of their own play of memories. This shift in perspective gives rise to humour — not sarcastic, but warm and human, allowing the austere aesthetics to reveal themselves from another angle. St. Petersburg, which usually maintains its seriousness, responds here with a slight smile.
Postcard, muline thread / 10x15 cm / 2025
In this work, the austere, classical landscape of St. Petersburg is literally transformed into a theatrical stage. A miniature theatre curtain appears above the black-and-white photograph. This gesture introduces an element of lightness and playfulness into the familiar urban motif, creating a subtle, ironic distance between the viewer and the image.
The bright red curtain makes the frozen classical cityscape unexpectedly dynamic: I invite the viewer to ‘raise the curtain’ and see a familiar place as part of their own play of memories. This shift in perspective gives rise to humour — not sarcastic, but warm and human, allowing the austere aesthetics to reveal themselves from another angle. St. Petersburg, which usually maintains its seriousness, responds here with a slight smile.
Part Two: Berlin
The second part is based on my personal photographs of Berlin, which I took during my first year of emigration. I had the photographs printed at a local shop so that I could embroider on them, thereby strengthening my connection to the city.
Embroidery on a photo
Photo, muline thread / 10x15 cm / 2025
Walking around the city, getting to know it and taking photographs, and then embroidering on those very photographs. This algorithm helps to build a bridge between yourself and the city you have just moved to.
By embroidering on photographs of cityscapes, I carefully, stitch by stitch, immerse myself in the details of the streets, architecture, people in space, urbanism as a whole, and invite the viewer of my works to join me. Through embroidery, we can bring our personal thoughts, feelings, and moods to the image of the city we see and live in, thereby building a sense of home.
Eyes — work by artists Gert and Daniel Neuhaus (2016)
Photo, muline thread / 10x15 cm / 2025
Walking around the city, getting to know it and taking photographs, and then embroidering on those very photographs. This algorithm helps to build a bridge between yourself and the city you have just moved to.
By embroidering on photographs of cityscapes, I carefully, stitch by stitch, immerse myself in the details of the streets, architecture, people in space, urbanism as a whole, and invite the viewer of my works to join me. Through embroidery, we can bring our personal thoughts, feelings, and moods to the image of the city we see and live in, thereby building a sense of home.
Eyes — work by artists Gert and Daniel Neuhaus (2016)
Embroidery on a photo
Photo, muline thread / 10x15 cm / 2025
With the help of embroidery, the photograph is transformed into an element reminiscent of a page from a sketchbook. The hand makes quick, almost intuitive sketches and notes. The stitches appear as spontaneous lines. At that moment, I imagined myself standing right in front of the bridge and drawing with threads as easily as I would make abstract doodles in a notebook while walking. Red crosses, rhythmic yellow strokes, green branch-like shapes — all of this is more like visual notes than a detailed depiction of architecture.
This approach allows you not only to see the city in a new way, but also to feel yourself in it in a new way. When you live in constant anxiety about learning the language, looking for your place, and trying to cope with loneliness, abstract embroidery on photographs becomes a gentle way to dissolve that anxiety a little.
The embroidered photograph takes on a dual nature: it remains a document of Berlin, but at the same time it is a personal map of memory, where each line is a small step towards feeling at home.
Photo, muline thread / 10x15 cm / 2025
With the help of embroidery, the photograph is transformed into an element reminiscent of a page from a sketchbook. The hand makes quick, almost intuitive sketches and notes. The stitches appear as spontaneous lines. At that moment, I imagined myself standing right in front of the bridge and drawing with threads as easily as I would make abstract doodles in a notebook while walking. Red crosses, rhythmic yellow strokes, green branch-like shapes — all of this is more like visual notes than a detailed depiction of architecture.
This approach allows you not only to see the city in a new way, but also to feel yourself in it in a new way. When you live in constant anxiety about learning the language, looking for your place, and trying to cope with loneliness, abstract embroidery on photographs becomes a gentle way to dissolve that anxiety a little.
The embroidered photograph takes on a dual nature: it remains a document of Berlin, but at the same time it is a personal map of memory, where each line is a small step towards feeling at home.
Embroidery on a photo
Photo, muline thread / 10x15 cm / 2025
This is probably one of the most important words in German for new immigrants.
"Genau" is a German word that means ‘exactly’ or ‘precisely’. It can also be used as an equivalent of ‘yes’, ‘right’ or ‘that's right’ to express agreement.
In this work, the word GENAU becomes not just an embroidered element, but a small linguistic support and a sign of closeness to a new place. By embroidering it three times, I capture one of the first sounds of Berlin: a short, confident, cosy word that can be heard everywhere: in shops, on the streets, on public transport, in snippets of conversation...
By embroidering GENAU against the backdrop of the Berlin TV Tower, one of the city's most recognisable symbols, I want to show how language and city are intertwined in personal experience. A word heard hundreds of times becomes an emotional anchor — a confirmation of understanding, a small victory in learning the language, that spark of coincidence when something foreign suddenly becomes familiar.
"Ja, genau!"
Photo, muline thread / 10x15 cm / 2025
This is probably one of the most important words in German for new immigrants.
"Genau" is a German word that means ‘exactly’ or ‘precisely’. It can also be used as an equivalent of ‘yes’, ‘right’ or ‘that's right’ to express agreement.
In this work, the word GENAU becomes not just an embroidered element, but a small linguistic support and a sign of closeness to a new place. By embroidering it three times, I capture one of the first sounds of Berlin: a short, confident, cosy word that can be heard everywhere: in shops, on the streets, on public transport, in snippets of conversation...
By embroidering GENAU against the backdrop of the Berlin TV Tower, one of the city's most recognisable symbols, I want to show how language and city are intertwined in personal experience. A word heard hundreds of times becomes an emotional anchor — a confirmation of understanding, a small victory in learning the language, that spark of coincidence when something foreign suddenly becomes familiar.
"Ja, genau!"
Embroidery on a photo
Photo, muline thread / 10x15 cm / 2025
In this work, the television tower becomes a centre of attraction: not architectural, but emotional. Multicoloured threads radiate from its base like rays, impulses, and seemingly thought trajectories. Embroidery transforms the austere silhouette into a vibrant knot of energy: as if the city radiates its own field, and all I have to do is capture it as I feel it. Through movement, colour, and the rhythm of stitches.
The coloured rays here are like directions when you first find yourself among new streets, as well as the paths along which numerous impressions of life in a big city that is completely new to you diverge.
This embroidery works like a map of sensations: it captures the moment when Berlin is perceived not rationally, but with the body, nerves and attention. There is a lot of unrestrained sketchiness in it.
Photo, muline thread / 10x15 cm / 2025
In this work, the television tower becomes a centre of attraction: not architectural, but emotional. Multicoloured threads radiate from its base like rays, impulses, and seemingly thought trajectories. Embroidery transforms the austere silhouette into a vibrant knot of energy: as if the city radiates its own field, and all I have to do is capture it as I feel it. Through movement, colour, and the rhythm of stitches.
The coloured rays here are like directions when you first find yourself among new streets, as well as the paths along which numerous impressions of life in a big city that is completely new to you diverge.
This embroidery works like a map of sensations: it captures the moment when Berlin is perceived not rationally, but with the body, nerves and attention. There is a lot of unrestrained sketchiness in it.
Contacts
I'm always excited about new opportunities, collaborations and interesting projects. Contact me to work together.
Email: fluctuation1996@gmail.com
