Pravda (Правда – "Truth") 2025
Full view of the Pravda installation: a 1:1 reconstructed childhood room with walls made of stacked layered newspapers.

A 1:1 reconstruction of my childhood room in Kyiv, this installation—built from layered newspapers spanning Ukraine’s independence to the present war—embodies both personal loss and the universal experience of migration, resilience, and the fragile act of rebuilding.

Close perspective of the newspaper wall layers forming the room’s structure.
Installation view of Pravda (Правда – “Truth”) 2025, showing the reconstructed room built from stacked and layered newspapers, walls and corners visible in gallery space.
View of one doorway or wall corner inside the Pravda installation, newspaper layers forming architectural structure.
Closer view inside the installation emphasizing thickness and texture of stacked newspapers forming the room structure.

Правда – "Truth"

Detailed view of layered newspaper walls with fragments of text and imagery visible, conveying material richness.
Close crop of layered newspaper walls emphasising the printed text and material depth.

The headline: “Music of the souls and the Maidans."

View of the room’s interior corner where stacked newspaper layers define spatial boundaries.

On the newspaper - the first President of Ukraine, L. Kravchuk. The headlines: “Act of Proclamation of Independence of Ukraine,” “Glory to Free Ukraine,” and “With Faith in the Happy Future of a Free, Independent Ukraine.”

Final installation shot focusing on the room structure within the space.
Photograph highlighting the thickness and vertical stacking of newsprint.

After years of wandering as a refugee, my Room has finally found a permanent home in Rotterdam—within the former refugee center, now the FENIX Migration Museum. Once fragile and displaced, She has grown stronger with each passing year. Her body now weighs 1 tone, her walls have thickened to 16 cm, and she stands proud—anchored, resilient, and unyielding.

This installation is a 1:1 reconstruction of my childhood room in Kyiv—an attempt to preserve what no longer exists and to reveal the Truth hidden behind its walls, both literally and symbolically. What began as a fragile shelter has now become a monument to resilience, migration, and the endurance of memory.

The Room carries within her the layers of history: newspapers spanning from Ukraine’s independence in 1991 to the present war. These papers—once hidden beneath wallpaper in Soviet-era apartments—now stand exposed as walls themselves, uncovering truths long buried under layers of silence.

Now, within the walls of a former refugee center, my Room speaks not only of personal loss, but also of the universal experience of migration—of leaving, of carrying home within oneself, and of the fragile yet powerful act of rebuilding.

Archival or related photograph captioned: “Daria in her childhood room, 2004 / 2025.”

Daria in her childhood room. 2004 / 2025

Project:

Daria Khozhai

Year:

2025

Permanent collecton -

Photography:

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0:00/1:34

©2026

©2026

©2026