Approaching Abandonment is a project by Emilia Harle and Natalia-A. Bakula that seeks to uncover the often-overlooked human dimensions of emigration. Dimensions that are frequently lost in the polarized public debates of recent years.

The project began in Slavonija, a region in eastern Croatia, where the aim was set out to understand both the historical roots of emigration in the 1990s and the present-day experiences of those who have remained.

Deliberately moving away from purely theoretical inquiry, an empirical approach was chosen. One grounded in direct engagement with people’s everyday realities. This shift allowed to test and refine earlier conceptual frameworks through real-world encounters.

At the heart of the project is a deep concern with the moral and practical implications of translating lived experience into creative expression. Rather than speaking about emigration in the abstract, Approaching Abandonment invites the viewer to consider the personal, often invisible costs of leaving and of staying behind.

Project Team
Natalia Bakula – Design Research, Design and Concept, Photography
Emilia Harle – Emigration Research, Fieldwork, and Community Studies

Advisors
Secil Ugur Yavuz
Francesco Faccin

Guidance in Croatia
The Institute of Emigration, Zagreb,