The Moldovan carpet motif has been a recurring point of departure in several of my works over the years. Its textile texture, which also echoes pixel aesthetics, interests me deeply, both for its visual qualities and for its connection to my Moldovan past, where the carpet literally served as the backdrop to family celebrations and festive meals. Over time, this motif has evolved into a symbol of communal contexts and tradition, something that, on the one hand, offers support and protection, but on the other, imposes a form of social pressure that the individual often feels within the group.

The carpet thus becomes an ambivalent element: it embodies care and belonging while simultaneously evoking the constraints and expectations imposed by the collective. It is from a certain emotional and temporal distance that this duality becomes more apparent.

In the series Commensals, which portrays a Sunday lunch scene, I sought to represent this pressure tied to group behavior, especially within familiar or intimate settings. In New Jungles, the characters appear physically together but emotionally isolated, immersed in a space where the Moldovan carpet now survives only as a distant memory—blurring into a visual universe more akin to Minecraft. This confusion of imagery reflects the disconnection between a traditional communal past and a fragmented, dislocated present.