Initially, I went to former East Prussia to pursue the roots of my grandad, who fled from there after WW II. Since I cannot drive, I decided to take a bus trip with a pensioner tourist group. Whilst being on the bus trip observing the pensioners became more and more interesting as everyone but one of them was on the trip for the same reason as I was: to find their family roots in an area mostly seen as a backlight of Europe. The eerily empty and neglected places shown to us as tourist attractions, and the similarities between the people on the journey became a metaphor for the never-ending search of hope most of the pensioners expressed themselves, which was likely mirrored by the sentiment of their family that grew up in such a place.

The light seal which came off my camera back and was placed across the negatives just exaggerated this, so I decided to keep it as a key element. "gut gut" (good good) is how almost all ladies at petrol stations and vodka shops described their products to us as soon as we, as a tourist group, entered the shop.