Nevalyashka

Polina Olhovska

'@p_ovsk

olhovska.polina@gmail.com

Moving to a new country, I knew how to introduce myself and express basic things, but not knowing the language felt like the least of my problems. The bigger challenge was overcoming the feeling of being an outsider. After moving to London from Latvia at age 9, I rejected my immigrant label for years. Yet after 15 years, I still feel like an alien. Photography became my way of accepting this identity and exploring what it means to be an immigrant.

My project combines landscape photography and a 3D model, reflecting the culture I grew up in. I found echoes of home in brutalist architecture’s harsh, concrete forms, offering comfort. By reconstructing my childhood city using London’s structures, I created a hybrid landscape where nostalgia and alienation meet. At the heart of the project is "Nevalyashka", a tumbling doll, symbolising the balance and instability of navigating life between two cultures.