Dream is Wonderful, Yet Unclear
Maria Kapajeva
Estonian Academy of Arts9.6.2026, 18:30
Conference Room of the Center for Urban History
We invite you to the lecture by Maria Kapajeva, in which she will talk about her body of works, Dream is Wonderful, Yet Unclear that resolved in the traveling exhibition and the book.
It explores the intersections of personal and collective memory through the history of a now-closed textile mill community of which her family was a part in Narva, Estonia. The mill, which used to be the most significant employer in the town, after its 150 years of existence, closed down in 2009. The empty buildings were acquired by a Swedish property company and still stand in the town as a reminder of the recent traumatic events for the community. The Narva Museum started guided tours of the mill territory, and Kapajeva was invited to create an installation to share real stories of people who used to work there. In 2017, this body of work developed into an exhibition titled Dream is Wonderful, Yet Unclear followed by a book, published in 2020.
Set against the wider context of post-industrial cities searching for new identities, the work reflects on women's labor, post-Soviet social realities, and the fading rhythms of collective life once embodied by the mill. Interweaving workers' stories with her own childhood memories as the daughter of a textile designer, the project traces the fragile connections between individual dreams, inherited histories, and collective narratives. This work is a part of the artist' multidisciplinary practice that explores questions of identity, gender, memory, and belonging, often focusing on borderlands, transitional states, and overlooked histories through photography, textile, video, installation, and participatory practices.
This lecture is a part of the public series "Weaving the Heritage" that attempts to ask and answer the questions of how the notion of heritage is imagined, experienced and revisited, especially by looking at how overlooked places and stories, often marginalized, are provoking interest and gaining new value and meaning in changing societies.
The lecture will be moderated by Iryna Sklokina.
She is an artist working between the UK and Estonia, exhibiting internationally. In 2025 she received the Estonian Annual Award for Visual and Applied Arts for the exhibition Listen To My Scream, Hear Their Dreams and the artist book a year long scream. She is currently undertaking a practice-based PhD at the Estonian Academy of Arts and works as Project Manager for Fast Forward: Women in Photography, a research and networking platform based at the University for the Creative Arts. Moderator of the event. Historian, researcher at the Center. She defended her PhD (2014) on the official Soviet policy of memory of the Nazi occupation of Ukraine (Kharkiv region). A participant in several international projects about historical memory and oral history, including Un/archiving Post/industry, which has won the Europa Nostra European Heritage Award (2023). Currently is working on research on social history and industrialization in post-WWII Galicia.
Maria Kapajeva
Estonian Academy of Arts 
Iryna Sklokina
Center for Urban History
"Weaving the Heritage" series is a public program of the "REHERIT 2.0: Common Responsibility for Shared Heritage" project. "REHERIT 2.0 is implemented by the Center for Urban History and the Regional Development Center of the PPV Economic Development Agency with the financial support of the European Union.
This publication was created with the financial assistance of the European Union. Its content is the sole responsibility of the partners of the REHERIT 2.0 project and does not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.
Credits
Cover Image: Maria Kapajeva, Cutbacks, 2017
Speaker's photo: Nele Tammeaid / Kogo gallery, 2025
