Description
Through the Lines
digital photograph taken #enpleinair in Madrid, Spain, 2024
As an Eastern European artist who relocated to Madrid over five years ago, I often move through the city as both participant and observer, navigating it through a lens of both familiarity and estrangement. ‘Through the Lines’ was taken during one of my open-air work sessions, in front of a kindergarten window where oversized, crayon-like bars turn a protective grid into a joyful composition. It was a moment where structure met play — a quiet reminder that creativity often finds its way through constraint.
This image reflects on the relationships we build with our surroundings: how cities carry traces of memory, relocation, and emotional texture. The colorful pencils evoke childhood, imagination, and the universal language of play — yet they also serve as a barrier. The colors invite joy, but the form suggests boundaries — perhaps those of childhood, institutional life, or cultural integration. It is this duality that drew me in: the way everyday urban details speak to larger stories of care, control, and transformation.
Displayed in Antwerp’s public space, ‘Through the Lines’ invites viewers to look past the obvious — to consider how creativity persists within boundaries, how play becomes a form of resilience, and how we all, in different ways, navigate the spaces between inside and out. This work hopes to resonate with anyone who has ever stood at the threshold of a new language, a new city, or a new life — and discovered an unexpected sense of belonging there.
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