In the summer of 2017, I went to Durrës, Albania to visit my grandparents. I brought an Olympus OM-10 and 35mm color film. The resulting photographs document both the city by the sea and the daily life of my grandparents. My grandmother is a two-time cancer survivor and disabled. Her world occurs in three rooms and a balcony. My grandfather, on the other hand, is in excellent shape, and swims three times a day in the Adriatic Sea. I documented the sweet moments of their very different daily activities as an elderly couple.

With my grandmother, we talk while she drinks coffee or does her nails. My grandfather and I tour the town together. I immigrated to the US with my parents when I was two. I didn’t experience the fall of communism, the economic shocks, the collapse of three pyramid schemes, the civil war, or the growth of the drug trade in Albania.

Whenever I return, I have a fairytale experience as someone with North American privilege; the systemic negligence of infrastructure is just an inconvenience on vacation. I know the reality is much harder to endure, but my photos from 2017 capture this delusion of sweetness and a nostalgia I’ve nourished from stories that I’ve been told about the raw connection between people and the earth in Albania.