Dream is Wonderful, Yet Unclear
Maria Kapajeva
Milda Books
Estonian, Russian and English
Silk-screen printed clothbound softcover
300 pages
170 x 240mm
2020
ISBN 9789934874826
Dream is Wonderful, Yet Unclear is a multi-layered and multi-disciplinary story of the relationships between collective and personal memories by looking at the community surrounding a textile mill in Narva, Estonia, now closed, of which Kapajeva’s family was a part. The story of one small community is set in the larger context of post-industrial cities worldwide, as they seek new identities. It depicts a mill filled by powerful rhythms of looms and lively collectives of women workers that, in today’s competitive world seems like a bright and distant dream. Maria has focused on women, with a heightened sensitivity towards social and political matters in post-Soviet culture.
As the daughter of a textile designer, she spent her childhood at the mill, drawing fabric patterns and dreaming about the same job her mother had. She tries to interweave her mother’s work, her childhood dreams and their failures with the workers’ collective ones to underline the division between personal and collective memories that together form our historical narratives.
About the Artist
Maria Kapajeva is an Estonian artist who is based in London. Her work has been shown internationally including the most recent shows & screenings in Romania, Germany, Colombia and France. At the moment she works on a publication of her first photo book “You can call him another man” and on her solo exhibition in Estonia (September 2017). Maria is a Fellow of HEA, teaches at UCA (Farnham). Maria is a co-organiser of Fast Forward: Women in Photography and works as the Network Facilitator for The Fast Forward 2 project, supported by The Leverhulme Trust. Kapajeva’s photographic work has developed at an exciting pace from its collaborative beginnings using various means such as installation, quilts, digital collage, portraiture in which to consider women’s identity, challenging tradition and old values in today’s globalised economy.
About the Publisher
Milda Books is a non-profit, non-commercial Baltic based publisher of documentary photographers, visual writers, artists and visual poets from the CEE region, founded in 2017. Milda Books produces one to three new books each year by contemporary artists and also focuses on authors from abroad who have made their work within this region.
