Migration Installation, glass marbles, mirrors, 2019. Sevdalina Kochevska

"Syrians" (siriyki, literally "Syrian women") was a very popular word in my childhood. Back then that’s what they called the glass marbles in a game that was the main occupation of all the boys in the neighborhood. There were also metal marbles, but the glass ones were much prettier, and they were probably called "Syrians" because of the country they came from – Syria. I knew nothing of that country then.

Years later, during the unrest in the Arab world and the subsequent migration, I remembered these marbles again. Translucent, with elegant little multi-colored leaves in the center. I had several of these beautiful Syrians, which I would sometimes stare at for hours.

In the game of marbles, however, something awful would happen to them. From the collision, the glass marbles would get chipped, and sometimes they would even shatter into tiny pieces of glass.
// S. K.