Before I go into my story, I want to reflect on an inspiring writer of the environment, politics, place and art, who lives in San Francisco. Her name is Rebecca Solnit. After reading some of her pieces—‘The Limits of Landscape’ and ‘Hope in the Dark’—and attending her lecture on maps, it really got me thinking about the way in which we design our notion of a place or many places. In her lecture, Solnit showed a variety of maps, maps that are so beautiful, some colourful, others were black and white or sepia, there were pictures of women, men, ships, boats, trees, flowers, circles, squares, some without text and some with. She emphasised how maps tell stories, along with the idea of everyone having several maps (of even one place)—certain transformations, experiences, etc., and that they do not always have to tell you how to get from point A to point B. For instance, I was born and raised in Moscow, Russia. For me, I see Moscow as a home, a place where my heart and soul reside. My dacha (Russian for summer house), the images that come to mind, as you shall see further on, are different than someone who comes and visits. My experiences and my view of my dacha is very different than, say, your image of what my dacha looks like, what you feel versus what I feel when I am there (of which you shall also learn).
