My husband and I moved to Tbilisi in June 2019. In late January 2020, I came to Ekaterinburg to settle some things. I stayed in the apartment of my friend’s parents, where she herself moved with a child during maternity leave. I had to return to Georgia in April, but the pandemic started, the borders closed, and I got stuck in Russia. I wasn’t ready for this situation, neither mentally nor financially. I turned from a guest into a person of a weird status. I couldn’t afford to rent an apartment and lived by turns with two families: with one on weekdays, with another on weekends.

At first, my situation depressed me. I was uncomfortable and ashamed. I felt foreign and odd. My things were in different apartments. I couldn’t carry them with me, so I even wore someone else’s clothes given to me by my hosts.

Gradually, I got used to my new lifestyle. Knowing their tastes, I shopped a particular set of groceries for each family. I helped with kids, with housekeeping, with pets. My friends’ son asked: “When will our Oksana come?” The hosts waited for me to visit them. I started feeling comfortable in each family. At home. At the same time, I knew that I am not a part of their family and can leave at any moment.

In May, I visited a friend in Chelyabinsk and photographed myself in his room, in his home clothes. That is how I started the Not At Home series.

I took pictures of myself everywhere I lived even for the shortest time. Most often, in a photograph, I am wearing my hosts’ clothes. But in some pictures, I am in my own clothes, and surprisingly, they are in harmony with the space that belongs to my friends.

It’s been 11 months since I have been living not at home. In the meantime, I learned that I can fit into any home and family, enter other people’s lives, and still stay myself. In this project, I am exploring how I look and feel when I am in a strange place but at home.

Right now, I live in Nizhny Tagil. I commute to Ekaterinburg for work on a Lastochka commuter train and stay at my friends’. Now I have somewhere to return to.  

Portrait about life in the conditions of covid 19
Chelyabinsk. I stayed here from May 3rd to 5th, 2020.In the photo, I am with a tarantula spider. The spider has recently shed its skin. The owner still does not know its sex. I am in the owner's pajamas. He gave me his home pants and wore a towel himself.
Photo about life in the conditions of covid 19
Yekaterinburg. I stayed here from January to June 2020.In the photo, I am with a friend's daughter Agnia. Agnia goes over her things. I am in a dress that the friend wore during her pregnancy with Agnia.
Photo about life in a pandemic
Yekaterinburg. I stayed here from January to June 2020.In the photo, I am with a friend who accidentally entered the room during the shoot. My hostess’s house tunic was oversized for me, so I felt uncomfortable walking around the house in it.
portrait about life in a pandemic
Yekaterinburg. I stayed here from April to July 2020.In the photo, I am with Kuzya, the cat. He came and lay next to me while I was making a self-portrait. I shared the hostess’s pajama pants with her sister.
Self-portrait about life in a pandemic
Yekaterinburg. I spent here only one day - June 22nd, 2020 - the host's birthday.In the photo, I am with Kuzina, the friendliest of the hostess’s three cats. I wore the birthday girl’s dress, which she herself suggested for this shot.
Project about life in covd 19
Yekaterinburg. I stayed here from May to July 2020.The owner of the apartment worked in the room next door, and cats were banned from there. I wore my hostess’s warm socks because my feet were always freezing.
Project about life in a pandemic
Yekaterinburg. I stayed here from May to July 2020. In the photo, I am with Paris, my hostess’s favorite cat. The hostess’s robe hung in a prominent place, and I always wanted to try it on, which I did for this photo.
Photo project in covid 19
Yekaterinburg. I stayed here for four days, from July 6th to 10th, 2020. I was asked to look after a dog while the hosts went on a vacation. In the photo, I am with Olmi, the dog. His hind leg is crippled. I used my dress both as a dress and as a robe.
Photography in a pandemic
Berezovsky, Sverdlovsk region. I stayed here for several days in July 2020. A day after my departure, the hosts had a newborn child. While I shot this self-portrait, the dog Maya was constantly bringing her toy asking me to throw it. The hostess's comfy clothes, which I am wearing, are of the same color hues as the entire interior
The project is about how life was during the pandemic
Village Kashino, Sverdlovsk region. I stayed here from August 22nd to 24th, 2020.After the shoot, I took the dog ​​Resti for a walk in a pine forest. I had to urgently buy this sportswear in order to come to visit here
Photo project about the times of covid 19
Yekaterinburg. I stayed here in August, September, and October 2020. I lived in this apartment 7 years ago and even renovated it. In the photo, I am with the apartment's owner — my ex-husband and his cat that couldn’t sit still. I'm wearing the host’s T-shirt. The T-shirt says, "Franz Kafka. Prague".
Photos in the pandemic
Reje, Sverdlovsk region. I stayed here in August and September 2020. My hosts live in this apartment temporarily. Their son Maxim eats a watermelon and watches cartoons. I am in the hostess's T-shirt, which was presented to her by a playwright acquaintance when he sheltered her with her son for a night in the pouring rain.
Self-portrait during the pandemic
Yekaterinburg. I stayed here some days in November and December 2020. In the photo, I was supposed to pose with the hostess's cat but he hasn't come yet. I am in my sleepwear. I bought the shorts in the children's department.
Portrait in the time of covid 19
Nizhny Tagil, Sverdlovsk region. I have been living here from July 2020 to the present. In the photo, I am alone, with no clothes on, under a white curtain. Finally, I could undress.

Publications:
June 2021, Republic, Moscow “Not at home”
March 2021, Such things, Saint-Petersburg “Not at home”

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