Between Places

Between Places

I’ve been wearing the same clothes since I left home a week ago. This bus, one of the many I’ve taken, is crammed with people; people in the isle, people standing, an old woman leaning on my shoulder. This seat is so small. I took this same bus last summer and almost passed out because of the heat, but it’s winter now and the thin soles of my shoes on the floor are as cold as the window I’m leaning on. It was smoke from the driver’s cigarette that woke me up; I’m nowhere near home.

This set of photographs has been collected while traveling from one place to another and onto the next, mostly in Ukraine, Moldova, Romania, and Bulgaria. Overnight buses and trains, waiting at stations, trying to keep an eye on my bag, feeling sick from the street food I ate a few hours ago. Taking these photographs allows me to pause for a moment and soak up what I am seeing. When I do return home these photographs provide me with a way to fill in the blanks, to really remember what it was that I saw.