We made a garden with some trees, with some birds and clouds.

This is a football field and there is a car in the sky. 

This house is inspired by Mary Norton’s ​“The Borrowers,” a classic children’s novel that tells the story of a family of tiny people living secretly within the walls and floors of an English house. The Borrowers survive by ​“borrowing” items from the humans they live amongst, adapting and repurposing these objects to suit their miniature needs. This seemingly whimsical tale holds deeper meanings, particularly in its portrayal of otherness and the dynamics between different cultures and societies. Norton’s narrative subtly advocates for recognition and respect of different races and cultures, encouraging a world where differences do not necessitate fear and where mutual understanding can flourish.

Places I call my home. This house contains all attributes from places that were and are my homes: Kharkiv, Lviv and London. Some of them are not real, but I still associate these objects as belonging to the city and place

My miniature is dedicated to the Kharkiv metro stations, which became a shelter for many at the beginning of the war, transforming into a sort of dormitory for those whose normal lives were shattered by the conflict. This situation demonstrated that the underground could become a home, with lobbies turning into children’s spaces, carriages into apartments, and platforms into social areas. The people who took refuge here recreated the model of coexistence from the city above ground, mirroring all the processes of their former everyday lives in the underground.

With this layout, I want to tell about the everyday life of Ukrainians through my story. I remember chatting with my mom in the kitchen and eating ice cream. It was tasty, but then the ice cream ended up on the floor, and tears welled up in my eyes. My mom and I both panicked and fell to the floor, not because of the ice cream. A military plane flew over the house, and the sound of its engine sliced through the silence like a knife. We lifted our heads and met each other’s gaze, filled with fear and confusion. The world seemed unreal, as if we were being watched on TV, and someone was mocking our helplessness. Every day we felt like our lives had become a cruel reality show, where we were just helpless actors who could die at any moment, without even getting a chance to say goodbye… I miss that ice cream because it was a little ray of light that brought some joy during the days and nights of explosions. But even that was taken away by the Russians… (Liza, OM Beketov National University Kharkiv). 

Since the beginning of the war, the life of every person has undergone changes. My world, as it seemed to me then, was divided into two parts. One part remained above ground. There the sun was shining, it was raining, people were leaving the city and coming back again. Until the siren was heard, it seemed that the world had not lost its colors at all and all the bad things were left behind. But this is a deception. It has become dangerous here, and if you forget about it, you risk paying with your life for your carelessness. The second part turned out to be completely different. Underground, time seems to stop and you are left alone with your anxieties, thoughts and doubts. Here you feel detached from the world above, and it is very frightening. But this place turns out to be a salvation. The surrounding walls are oppressive, but will also protect in case of danger. Someday the world above will return to order, and we will all be a part of it. But while explosions are heard outside the window, my thoughts involuntarily return underground again, to the place where my fears remain. (Anastasia 18, OM Beketov National University Kharkiv)