Pravda, a deeply personal translation of the public experience of loss and collective trauma, an intimate rumination on the uncertainties of our current times and our future.

Through the installation of Pravda, a 1:1 scale model of her childhood room, Daria Khozhai invites visitors into her home, her memories, and her deep unrest since February 24, 2022. Following the russian attacks on Ukraine, the memory of Khozhai’s first home suffered a traumatic displacement, compelling her to painstakingly recreate her room by revealing the layers of its own history. As Khozhai describes, ‘This is my home. The home where I was born and grew up. The home that I loved. The home I can never return to. No roof, no floor, no walls are left. Only memories and emotions, pain, despair, nostalgia, and loss.’

10 cm. thick walls of Pravda consist of layer upon layer of hand-laid newspapers dated from 1991, re-establishment of Ukraine’s state independence to February 24, 2022 - 2023 of the russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Until now, newspapers have been hidden under the wallpapers of millions of homes as a means to cover the imperfections of the Soviet-era apartments. Now, when walls are ruined, at last, the Truth has been revealed. Through the installation of Pravda, Khozhai transforms these formerly hidden pages into external building elements in and of themselves, meticulously constructed layer by layer, and in stark contrast with the abrupt and irreversible acts of destruction.

The title Pravda, meaning “truth,” refers to the state propaganda Soviet newspaper. By reclaiming and repurposing its pages, Khozhai uncovers deeper historical truths long buried beneath surfaces—both literal and political. The silence of the installation is occasionally pierced by a real-time air raid siren from Kyiv, grounding the work in the present and insisting that the past remains alive.