This video work was created following my mother’s return to her native Croatia. My mother is Serbian, and her family lived in Croatia before and during the breakup of Yugoslavia. During the war, her village—along with many others—was subject to ethnic cleansing, forcing the displacement of its entire population.​

In 2009, she returned to her family home to find it abandoned and overgrown, with landmines still present in the area. Personal belongings remained scattered throughout the house, including her jacket and her mother’s spindle for spinning wool.​

The video’s editing reflects the lasting effects of war, displacement, and the loss of home. Fragmented and atmospheric, it attempts to convey both the physical and emotional remnants of what was left behind.​

Alongside the video, I developed a sculptural work in which I recreated the spindle in fragile wax. This act of reconstruction serves as a way of preserving memory, while also emphasizing its vulnerability and impermanence.