Larson Shindelman are grateful to the many collaborators who worked with us to bring this project to fruition. As we write this acknowledgement we receive messages from our dear friends in Russia and their attempts to flee the unknown and horrors that might come to fruition as this book is in printing.
We are most grateful for the friendship and collaboration of Iaroslav Volovod, who provided invaluable curatorial guidance, translation, and corresponding translator notes. This project would not have been possible without his kindness, humor, and generosity.
The Russian photographs in St. Petersburg and Moscow were completed during a funded residency with CEC Artslink in 2016. We are grateful for administrative and logistical support from Lizaveta Matveeva and Susan Katz.
The United States photographs in Chicago and Los Angeles were completed with a 2016 John Gutmann Photography Fellowship Award. We are grateful to Susan Friedewald and the Gutmann Trust for believing in our work. And a special thank you to Brett Abbott for creating this linkage. We are grateful to Lidiya Kan for translation of English to Russian and corresponding translator notes.
Our book designer, Ania Nałęcka-Milach, Tapir Book Design, has done amazing work to synthesize all the visual and textual elements of the project and we are so grateful for her vision and guidance. We look forward to sharing this printed volume soon.
Nate wishes to acknowledge the patience and love of his wife, LaRonika Marie Thomas. He dedicates his work to the memory of Tallulah Marie Helen Larson.
In Home, Warsan Shire said “you have to understand / that no one puts their children in a boat / unless the water is safer than the land.” Marni dedicates this book to everyone who has ever left their homes under the cloak of night to seek safety.