Years ago, I wrote about the things I kept around my desk for inspiration: books, Mughal miniatures, Orthodox icons, spices, and old maps. My office was a collection of objects, many of which I had brought from my travels and spread around me to remind of the place I had visited and encourage me to dream.
I still can’t resist an antique book, a beautiful piece of textiles or the smell of cardamom crushed between my fingers. But my life today unfolds in rental apartments on the frontline cities in eastern Ukraine, where I inhabit the spaces people fled for safer places. I live out of a backpack, and the bulk of my luggage is my body armor.
The things that inspire me today are mainly what I observe and remember. The fewer items I can carry, the more I want to store away in my memory.
Flowers, for instance.
I notice them everywhere: Roses spilling over fences. Pink hollyhocks beside ruined houses. Wildflowers growing along roads. Sunflowers so vibrantly yellow they seem fluorescent through the anti-drone nets. The flowers in gardens nobody visits anymore.
There is nothing unusual about flowers blooming. They do it every year without asking whether the circumstances are appropriate. Perhaps that is precisely why I find them so moving. Whatever humans destroy, nature fills with relentless ardor and color.
The night sky.
On clear nights in the Donetsk region, the stars can be astonishing. In August, a friend calls me in the middle of the night, urging me to find the Milky Way. We descend into the main square, watching the glittering stars, while the distant flashes of falling glide bombs lit up the horizon.
The sky has become something I watch for other reasons too, so there is a wonderful luxury in looking at it simply because it is beautiful. I encourage everyone to do it. Notice things around you and find the child-like delight in discovering your surroundings.
For Paid Subscribers, simple things that inspire me—and that I hope can inspire you too. We don’t need to live in a warzone to remind ourself of extraordinary facets of ordinary life.