On March 4, 2022 the word “war” was outlawed in Russia. It felt like being violated. Like someone tearing into your body who shouldn’t be there. It was hard to breathe, and for a week after that I found myself regularly having to instruct myself: “breathe in” – walk three steps – “breathe out” – walk three steps – and again over and over. That day a big lump of pain appeared in my throat, and it’s still there today.
I was watching Katya Gordeeva’s interview with Chulpan Khamatova as I was cutting out the endless stickers.