The series of 514 photographs is the result of a minimal experimental setting. The focal point of the camera is the center point of a cube built of juxtaposed mirrors on all sides, reflecting nothing but the cube’s inner void. At the same time, it creates an infinite space that displays the transience of light from the dark bottom to the upper rows and towards the sky. The production of this artwork was a meditative process in which the telerange of the lens determined the steps of taking distance from the object while holding the same focal point. It is a metaphor for the mind’s power to hold on to a dream and realize personal freedom despite all odds. The idea for this work emerged from a biographical context in which a name change in Tunisia in the 1970s caused trouble in the post-Soviet bureaucracy. Until today, the document record of the change of Nadia’s Tunisian family name to “Kaabi” is held in civil archives in Moscow and not shared with Ukraine, which prevents Nadia from formally reclaiming her Ukrainian citizenship.
The artwork was first shown in the exhibition Squeezed in Infinity, likely named after its theme, at the National Art Museum of Ukraine, where Nadia reflected on her connection to her second origin and the interplay between Ukrainian and Tunisian legacies.
