Photo project
Zeroing Out: The Stories of the Emigrants to the US
Photographer Anastasia Makarycheva spent two years in the US. She gathered stories of emigrants asking them whether America became their home and what to do to start living in a new country for real.
The term ‘cultural shock’ was introduced in the 1950s by Calervo Oberg, a Canadian anthropologist. This is a phenomenon that takes place when you move to a different country or abruptly change your environment or way of life.
Oberg says that this shock means “the anxiety that results from losing all our familiar signs and symbols of social intercourse.” It is often complicated by information overload, language barrier, boredom, and homesickness.
Anastasia Makarycheva
Photographer from Nizhny Novgorod, before that — a journalist. Studied at DocDocDoc school and took Artem Chernov’s course. Published her work in The Washington Post, Rossiyskaya Gazeta, Novaya Gazeta, Russian Reporter, and RBK.
— I moved to the US three years ago. After half a year I decided to register on Viber, and almost immediately I received a message: “Why are you here? You died…” It was a man named George — it turned out he had recently buried his aunt, and her phone number was now mine. This message was partially true for me as well: moving to a different country is somewhat like death.
A golf course in Libertyville, Illinois. “America is like Mars for me,” Andrey says. He moved to the US because of his wife’s work. “Life here is entirely different. It is hard sometimes, but it also means that you have a lot of time for yourself and for creativity. I, for example, started writing a book.”
Veronika came from Russia two years ago. “We had to move: the law that my husband protected started working against him and in favor of the criminals. We had three days between the decision to leave and the flight. The things most difficult to leave behind were my status, my salary, and my sense of self. It was the hardest — to erase myself entirely and to become aware of myself anew, under the new conditions, find myself here, become aware of a different me, outside those privileges. With any move, it is as if you remain naked and you need to dress yourself again.”
An office building in the Chicago suburbs. For those who come to work or study, adaptation is usually easier.
Nikolay came from Russia five years ago. This year, he graduated high school and plans to continue his education in America. “It was very unusual at first. It seemed that I was better than the others because many dream about this — and suddenly the dream that I didn’t even have came true. I immediately had this beautiful picture about my life here in my mind. I didn’t even think about everything that I was leaving behind in Russia: my classmates, my friends, or my home — I realized that I left them in my former life only when I started school here. It was hard to get used to the new culture, hard to understand who is a real friend — here, people are polite for the sake of being polite. Language was pretty easy though — it was probably because I was twelve when I came here.”
A school stadium in the Chicago suburbs. Dasha came to the US four years ago, and is now a university student. “When we packed our things, we took the most beautiful clothes. High heels, shirts for school, black pants, long dresses. I gave away my T-shirts and jeans to friends — they called to thank me. I never wore any of that. I was a high-schooler at a huge school — during a five-minute break you need to run from one classroom to the other. High heels are no good! I thought: “I could have used that T-shirt now.” There was no time to make friends — I was always on my phone, talking to friends from Ukraine.”
Yana came from Belarus half a year ago. “I was dating an American, and then we got married. Before I met my husband, I never thought of moving to America. I don’t miss the birch trees at all — my home is here. The person I love was waiting for me, and I knew English. My dream is to write a textbook for emigrants. The textbook that would help them not to be afraid of English. I know many-many people who have been living here for decades, and they still don’t speak. I would like to help them very much.”
Vernon Hills, Illinois
Albina has been in the US for five years. “The migrants have two extremes. One being forgetting the old ways and trying to become an American. But who are we then? This is how we lose our identity. And the other is closing up in their own subculture and living there. Both are a prison. There is a golden mean. Yes, it is painful to accept another culture because it means that something of yours dies. However, if you go through it, you’ll be able to live here without excruciating nostalgia.” Albina has recently returned to Russia with her daughter and husband: her husband’s student visa expired. Two of Albina’s sons stayed in America.
Vernon Hills, Illinois
In Illinois where I lived there are thunderstorms between February and November and winds throughout the year — exactly as the articles that I had read before moving promised. None of them said, however, how difficult it might be without knowledge of English (I studied German at school and at the university), without family, friends, or a job. I knew that the States weren’t forever: my husband’s project would last a couple of years, and then we’d go back. However, I still lost myself for several months.
I didn’t know back then that this was cultural shock. That the first thing that happens when it hits is the ‘honeymoon’, then the frustration, and then the adjustment — and only after that you can adapt to the new environment. My project, Zeroing Out, is an attempt at understanding how to go through this process as least painful as possible. These are the stories of people who moved to America from different parts of the planet.
Moving to a different country is somewhat like death.
A swimming-pool in Wheeling, Illinois. For many foreigners such places are a way to find company.
Christmas Eve in the apartment of a family from India. They prepared for the holiday in advance — decorated a Christmas tree and the walls, and learnt some Christmas songs.
A room in a home of a family from Iraq. Palatine, Illinois.
Balsam came from Iraq nine years ago with her husband and two daughters. In her country, she was a geography teacher, and now sews ready-made clothes. Balsam’s mother and sister stayed back in Iraq. Arabic television reminds her of her former life. “We left because of the war. We lived in Algiers for a year, and then America took our family in as refugees. I didn’t know English, I couldn’t drive a car, my children and husband left in the morning, and I stayed home alone, looked at the snow out of the window and cried.”
The hardest thing for Liana who came from Ukraine a year and a half ago was to say goodbye to her collection of flowers — she had to leave them with her relatives. She took the photographs of violets with her.
Anirudh came from India three years ago. “I am in the States on a work visa. The first two years were the most difficult: no friends, everything new. The most important thing is not to stay home — you need to go out and talk to people. This way, you can improve your English, meet someone, and gain confidence. I, for example, play soccer after work.”
A parking lot in Vernon Hills, Illinois. A car is essential in the US: public transport is not very developed, and without a car it is hard even to go to the store to get groceries.
You need to get used to some everyday things, too. For example, many people in the States use shared laundry rooms in their buildings. There are washing machines and dryers there, and to start laundry, you need a special card. This laundry room was located in the basement of the house where I lived.
A park near Detroit, Michigan. Irina came to the USA ten years ago. “For the first two years I went out to the street, looked into the sky, saw the planes there and thought: “I could have been on one of them. I could have been flying home, to St. Petersburg.” It was so hard — no language, no job, no friends. I had to learn everything anew. And two years after we went to St. Petersburg, and after several days I told my husband: “You know, I want to go back home so much already,” — and I meant America.
Dina lived in Ukraine, and started coming to the States in the 1990s. Several years ago, she moved to America for good. “I almost didn’t have the adaptation period — I visited here frequently before the move. First, I came to see my grandchildren, then I had great-grandchildren. I can’t say that America is home though. I don’t know where home is.”
Vernon Hills, Illinois
Sierra Nevada Mountains from the illuminator
Rahim and his wife Nagham are from Iraq. They fled from the war to the US with their four sons several years ago. “The biggest difficulty is the language,” Rahim says in Arabic, and his eldest son interprets. “The children learnt it, but I don’t have the opportunity: I need to feed my family. I miss my friends and relatives, but I don’t miss the fear and death there at all. As soon as we got off the plane, I knew that my home was here.”
Blanka has lived in the USA for twenty-one years. She came from a small Mexican town together with her mom. “I was eighteen years old. I tried to go back to school, but we don't have money. I had to start to work here. The first ten years were really difficult — I woke up and thought about my house in Mexico. I was hiding somewhere and I was just crying, I wasn't happy to be here. And then I realized that my life was in America: my son was born here, and I had a job. Now I can say I feel comfortable here.”
Amer came from Syria over a year ago. He now lives at his brother’s place, who moved to America a long time ago, and Amer studies at a college and plans to find a job. “I made it to America just in time before they closed the borders to the Syrians. In fact, I had been living in Saudi Arabia for a long time, and I can’t go back to Syria, because if I did, I’d be arrested. It’s awful there now: ruined houses, explosions. It’s scary. My home is still there, in Syria, though.”
Clemence came from France a year ago because of her husband’s job. “I worked a lot in France. I met many people every day, wrote letters, called clients, I had meetings. And when I came here, everything changed. I turned to a zero: I couldn’t speak, I had no job, and no friends. Just one feeling all the time — loneliness. I had to become a different person. I went to study English, and I am trying to understand a new culture. When you come to a different country, you need to do a lot of work on yourself. My husband just continued to live the same life, but in a different country. I think it is hard for him to completely understand how I felt. I like America, but I know for sure that France is my home, and I will go back there.”
Saritha came from India three years ago because of her husband’s job. “I moved here in winter. You know, Chicago is cold in winter. I came in November, the darkest month of the year. November met me with snow. I was staying home all the time. I didn't know who my neighbors were because I didn't go out. Only home and stores. First, I felt homesick. After spring, I started to be outside often. I met some people. I began to feel good.”
Yury came from Rostov in 2000. His wife and five-year-old daughter joined him after half a year. “I played a game called BioForge at work. There, a man wakes up on some planet and doesn’t understand anything. There is no one around. Some voice from above is saying something. And the man is trying to figure things out. I found myself in the Chicago airport, and it was like BioForge: strange creatures talking in a foreign language. It was very interesting at first: new people, a good job in San Francisco. And still it is a foreign country and a foreign culture. Now, we live in our own small world, and there is still no feeling of home. I am hoping to go back, but my wife really likes it here — so it’s still up in the air.”
Irina came from Ukraine three years ago. She received a work visa and later married a guy she knew from the university who got employed in the States a year earlier. Now, she is on maternity leave. “I missed my home, my family, my close friends so much! I was going nuts. It was also difficult not to have a car. Here’s the store, it’s close, but you can’t reach it on foot or on your bike: there is a highway between us. I feel good here now — my home is where my family is.”
