Pearl of Absurd

My name is Oleksandra and I have never been to the Soviet Union, though its footprints surround me. I live in Odesa — the city of myths, historical challenges, outstanding architecture, and my roots. I know very little about my ancestors because some of them were executed during the Great Terror in 1938 and my family went into forced silence. Fortunately, their dwellings — old buildings — remained. They are now the only connection to previous generations and, at the same time, vivid proof of the European times of the city. But what could be an open-air museum of architecture is the battlefield now. There is a fight between a group of citizens, who stand to preserve unique buildings and oligarchs rebuilding them to skyscrapers. The city is changing irrevocably, and I am afraid to lose it. What we inherited from the past is abandoned now and turns into sand literally. I find myself in the middle of these events.

Pearl of Absurd is a debut documentary and interactive cross-media platform. While the documentary is my personal journey through the city that reveals the story of my family, the cross-media platform is designed as a hub for various interactions and activities with the main goal to save the city.