There is a way to determine the weight of luggage by using only small kitchen scales. It is necessary to place each item on the scales separately, weigh it, and then total the results. In one case, the final figure may be correct, but in another, it may be considerably different from reality. Only when we reach the airport and place our entire bags on the scales will we be able to examine our results.

Russia declared mobilization into the army on September 21, 2022, and many people assumed that it would result in border closures for men over the age of 18 on September 27th. Some men decided to stay in the country, while others decided to leave Russia due to political views, disagreement with the regime, possible prosecution, refusal to take up arms, fear for their lives, or personal reasons.

I became interested in the decision-making process in the absence of reliable information and in the items that people decided to take with them when leaving in a rush. (Most of them had just backpacks in order to be able to cross the border by foot.) All the things they took with them were considered essential for starting a new home in a new country or for a never-ending trip.

For this project, over the spring and summer of 2023, I met men who urgently left Russia during the period of September 21–27, 2022. I asked them to show me all the things they took with them when crossing the border. Then I weighed each item on the kitchen scales and documented it with a Polaroid. Each series is a set of things belonging to one person with some information about him: occupation, age, which city he is from, for which country he left, how he crossed the border, and weight of luggage. In case some of the items were not available, I wrote down their approximate weight.