Dysfunctional Prophets

“When nothing else subsists from the past, after the people are dead, after the things are broken and scattered...the smell and taste of things remain poised a long time, like souls...bearing resiliently, on tiny and almost impalpable drops of their essence, the immense edifice of memory”. Marcel Proust

As an immigrant child from the USSR I began to question my identity early on. Growing up in New York City with many other immigrants did not make me a special case, but fitting in among other more prominent cultures at that time was challenging. Trading the Soviet Union for America at the age of six was not trading worse for better, as a child I had no concept of politics or oppression. In essence it was a reincarnation. The switch was so sudden that I could not adequately comprehend it. From having a whole family to having half, from innocence to reality, from understanding the language to not. From play to discipline. From noise to silence. From warm sepia to loud color. In these simple terms I can convey the memory of our immigration. Thirty two years have passed since then.

"Dysfunctional Prophets" is an installation through which I explore the poignant memories of our departure from Russia. Through video, animation, found objects and sound I attempt to reconnect with the child that lived through this metamorphosis as well as to convey the complex nature of immigration.