Eyes Open, Eyes Close
2025
This photo project was born in the aftermath of the 12-day war in my country.
While I currently live abroad, my other self remained there throughout—walking the streets and alleys of my hometown, every familiar corner. Some of those places, according to the news, are no longer the same. Yet in my mind, they remain untouched. No matter how hard I try to separate these two lives, these two realities, they continue to overlap. This entire process has been an attempt to digest, to grieve, and to believe.
Every day passes in between.
I wake up, I eat, I work, I breathe, I blink —
and in that moment, the other life begins.
I keep thinking, again and again:
What is life like there?
Eating, working, breathing —
how did it feel to blink there?
When these two realities touch,
it’s hard not to remember —
not to think,
with every second,
every breath,
every blink.
Then it fades —
becoming lighter, more transparent...
And I’m left standing,
gazing into the trees,
into the wind,
into something I can’t quite name —
all over again.
