The project aims to act as a visual definition of the word it is named after. Тоска is a Russian word often described as untranslatable and as a non-Russian speaker, the best way I can define it is the ache of despair you feel in your heart, whether from something nostalgic, from missing someone you love, or even from an unexplainable melancholy.

While I did say that this project is a visual definition of the word, that is slightly misleading. It is a definition, yes, but only for me. Without the lived experience of existing in the places photographed, I do not think it is fully possible for these photos to define Тоска. Without the memory of sharing drinks with friends in that living room, the memory of the weight of the armored vest on my shoulders as we waited next to the Donetsk sign, the memory of the fear I felt when first hearing the air raid sirens wailing across the city as hundreds of birds flew above, the memory of the pain in my heart as I sat alone in a small hotel room knowing that after I stepped on the train the next day I might never get to see the people I love again. Without those memories the thing about these photos that defines Тоска for me does not exist. For me Тоска is not only the feelings I experienced when taking them, but also the longing I have to feel all those emotions again whenever I am sitting safely at home looking at them.