“The Baggage of Abandonment” is an initiative in emotional communication and mediation launched by the Abandonment Museum in May 2022. Since then, nearly 100 testimonies have been collected, recounting the most dramatic moments in one’s existence, those in which external and uncontrollable forces compel individuals to abandon everything: friends, home, the place where you live or work, the community, small habits, life as you know it… hastily packing what appears salvageable into a suitcase. The project aims to archive narratives and emotions from one of the most dramatic events in recent European history – the conflict in Ukraine.

How were the stories collected?

Since May 2022, the Abandonment Museum team has initiated engagements with individuals for whom Romania became a temporary refuge space. The initial working group involved children who had fled from an orphanage near Odessa, seeking refuge from the war and drone attacks. The initial narratives, titled “The Baggage of Abandonment,” originated from them, recounting the small objects saved in their luggage, evoking memories of “home”: a keychain, the older brother’s shirt worn in battle, a sewing machine, some notebooks. It appeared to us that they epitomized the essence, the nexus between the Abandonment Museum – a project addressing the plight of Romania’s abandoned children – and “The Baggage of Abandonment” – a project delving into the flight from war, reflecting on what one leaves behind and what one chooses to take with them, even when their life is in peril.

What could be found in the exhibition?

“My Land” constituted an integral activity within the project, a creative exploration employing techniques and methods inspired by expressive therapy under the coordination of Mihaela Olimpia Ruscior and Raluca Minoiu. Within the framework of the project, 11 women from the Ukrainian refugee community created painted panels depicting their realms and maps of their bodies, not solely physical, but also mental and emotional. These mappings of thoughts, feelings, and histories were crafted by the 11 women around the experience of war and the profound changes it brought to their lives. Their exercise in expression and redefining of new personal boundaries was realized through the amalgamation of sounds, movements, colors, textures, and words.

The works produced by these 11 women are accompanied by guiding texts in which the authors expound upon the symbolism of their contours and boundaries, elucidating why they selected particular textures, colors, shapes, and symbols, thereby guiding the viewer through their inner realms.

Liudmyla Sydorenko, aged 71

“My land is a lake shaped like a man, filled with emotions of all kinds, yet devoid of any living presence, except for some small fish, indicating that life will continue and they will thrive. The brown spots are bird nests. They are empty now, but life will return to them. When I drew them, I thought of my grandchildren, and it is not accidental that they are spaced apart, as they are in different parts of the world, on different continents, and I haven’t seen them in so long.”

Iryna Bilous, aged 40

“The line of fire that separates my land in half initially frightened me; it seemed like a division, but now I see it as a border where two countries converge. I didn’t know that Romania and Ukraine had so much in common. Here, it seems to me that life should not be translated; only language separates us.”

Their experience was complemented by a connected perspective through the photographic lens of Alexandra Corcode, a student at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague, where she is completing her degree in documentary photography. Alexandra’s photographic project bears the title “Light Unveiled” and aims to illuminate the lives of Ukrainian women who have sought refuge in the heart of Bucharest, escaping the harsh impact of war devastation.

The exhibition “The Baggage of Abandonment: A Collective Exploration of the Boundaries of Abandonment”, hosted by Cartierul Creativ Gallery in Amzei 13 in Bucharest was organized by the Abandonment Museum, in collaboration with Cartierul Creativ, supported by SERA Romania Foundation, CARE France, and FONPC.

Translated by Andreea Racoviceanu.