Our project is a continuation of a lifelong friendship that began at a daycare center in Kyiv. Since 1989, our lives have taken dramatically different paths, yet we find the similarities between us more striking than the differences. Despite being continents apart—Yaroslava in Kyiv and Alina in New York—we connect through discussions about our domestic entanglements: our children, animals, and our shared love for haptic and tactile connections through craft and art. 

Despite the cultural and economic differences of our contexts, both of us have relied on seamstress work for income. This highly gendered labor, though often underpaid, provides women who cannot afford or lack access to childcare the opportunity to earn money from home. In our project, we aim to transform this labor, which has sustained us financially, into a medium for connection. Navigating the complexities of the mail system, especially as Ukraine currently lacks air traffic, we are exchanging sewn prompts with each other. Using fragments from our daily lives—such as grocery bags, outgrown children’s clothing, and parking violations—we are intertwining our experiences through these creations. At the heart of this exchange is intimacy—to know and understand each other’s daily existence, to hold each other’s scraps, and to sew alongside each other's stitch.