I left Romania when I was 23. I thought I was temporary leaving my home country and all my Romanian roots and cultural background, but I was wrong, and eight years down the line I am still living abroad, in some kind of self imposed exile. Although artistically I have developed in unforeseen ways, all accomplished by living and working abroad, my Romanian background is part of all my art work. Either is in the form of discreet ideas from fairytales, or referring to imagery and cultural values. Maybe the Romanian influence is perceived as fine traces, but this is still very much present in all I do. I work as a lecturer, curator and independent artist. One of the most important and reoccurring aspects of my work is based on identity issues, either is my own art work or my interest in promoting Romanian artists abroad. My ideas research personal as well as collective issues. My work at the moment explores the ideas of communication from distance. All this involves the concept of living far away from our initial home. With globalization and the new era of technology, we all seem to travel and live in different locations than the ones originally known for the past generations. We have more freedom to look for jobs and lives in other parts of the world. However our cultural background will still survive in a hybrid form somehow mixed with the local culture. The best things I ever receive from Romania are not the jars of jam, or some Romanian traditions, but the letters I still receive from friends and family. These bits of paper that travel across Europe to reach me, contain feelings, thoughts, personal touch and character which always makes me feel closer to my roots and my heritage. These pieces of paper are dyed and transformed, they lose some of their initial content and they become objects, art objects which still represent the same attachment. They lose their literal meaning through words to become objects of desire. They become sensual and personal, beautiful and at the same time sad relics of my past and also present. This present although fulfils me in many different ways, it also frustrates me because I feel there is always something missing. These objects represent the traces of my attachment to my Romanian culture and also my present belonging to a hybrid existence. Stories, fairytales, a smell or a dream are the things that make us happy, sad and all together alive. Each one of us has a different heritage of ideas based on feelings, which we can harvest and share.