“Mein Name ist Lesya, ich komme aus Russland und studiere Grafikdesign” is the title of my Master project. It refers to the phrase I say over and over to introduce myself since I came to Germany. In variations, I am taught to repeat it right from the start: when I start learning language, when I cross the border, when I meet new people, when I apply for a job, when I prolong my documents, when I go to the doctors. It follows me as my guiding angel, across borders and through closed doors, putting me in the right places and guarding me from others. It justifies my existence and spares me from defining myself. 

This project takes the form of a book that gives a glimpse of my life since migrating to Germany. Short stories are written in the genre of autofiction, where the real life events get mixed up with fiction. Events that happened in reality get reshaped and filtered, with the fictional writing they turn into stories. From observations, gathered during unavoidable visits to Ausländerbehörde and doubts, accompanying professional identity crisis, to awkward situations caused by language barriers, struggles during doctor appointments, and recollections of life before migration — everything is woven into a net of (un)relatable experiences.

English is deliberately mixed with German, Russian and Udi languages, so together the writing becomes partly inaccessible to some readers and more accessible to others. The mix of languages in writing not only resembles the way of thinking of a multilingual person, but also creates additional layers of narration, where some things are “hidden” and some are shown clearly.