Wallpaper Dreams:

There are things people ask when you come back from visiting your country for the first time since childhood. "Is it just as you expected it to be?", "Has everything changed?", "Did you recognize the places where you grew up?" The answer is a definitive Yes and No.

Some things hit you right away. The places in your memory that were filled with Soviet-era relics, now glaringly interspersed with the all-too-recognizable icons of globalization. The crumbling Stalinists architecture contrasted with shiny western clothing chains and brightly coloured McDonalds'.

Then there are things that developed since you left, the unique staples of modern Ukraine that you discover over time. It dawns on you that nearly half of young men in Kiev style their hair into a dorky mullet (after a Ukrainian pop-star did it during his Eurovision appearance). And you notice the groups of teenagers on street benches drinking beer from morning to night, every-where. The beefy men dressed in leather jackets, selling bullet-proof doors (doors!!) in open markets, next to the familiar old ladies with baskets of radishes and beets. It's kind of ridiculous.

But the thing that stuck with me the most – and I only realized this months later when looking over Eugen's photos – is that no one ever paints their apartments in Kiev. Every single room we entered was covered in wallpaper. How great is that?

Yeah, the wallpaper thing was my favourite.


Text by Slava Sakhnenko