Olena is an interior designer from Bila Tserkva, and she stayed in Ukraine. When the war began, a thought came that wouldn’t leave: everything can disappear – belongings, people close to you, your home, everything that mattered. And in that uncertainty she turned to what had always been nearby.
When she walks – by a river, in a forest, by the sea – she picks up stones, not always knowing why. Some voice says: take it, it’s yours. At home there is a collection, and when she holds them in her hands she feels something she has no name for and cannot explain in words.
“NATURE CAN PROMPT US, CRY, WEEP AND TELL US THINGS. EVERY PERSON NEEDS TO ESTABLISH A CONNECTION WITH IT. WE ARE NOT HERE AT A DISTANCE FROM IT — WE ARE WITH IT, AND IT IS WITH US.”
Once she needed a piece of driftwood for an installation – she searched for a long time, until a friend called to say that old trees were being cut down nearby. She went, asked the workers, and now that piece lies at home – in memory of trees that no longer exist.
Trees remember more than people, she says, their age is far greater, they have seen so much and stay silent. You need to learn to hear them, because the language in which nature speaks to us carries a sacred meaning.
“Strength is only within you. And only you can draw it out.”
Project: Healing Land.Voices Voice: Olena Location: Korostyshiv, Ukraine