Diana Olesjuk

Volia. This series was created nearly six years ago, when my friendship with Volia was still new. Volia is a Belarusian film director and producer who came to Tallinn when the atmosphere in her home country became too hostile. She has always been drawn to the quiet noir of the Baltics and even hosted a Nordic film festival herself. The location was chosen intentionally: like Volia, my parents are emigrants from Belarus, and this neighborhood was their first home in Estonia as it was for many others since the 19th century. Today, little remains of it. The houses stand abandoned, burned, and collapsing. Volia had already left one home behind, and the new one had not yet taken shape. This walk became a space between two lives: between displacement and becoming. A portrait of a woman in transition, carrying both exile and resilience.