In St-Petersburg, the pollen falls from the poplar trees in June. The poplars were massively planted after the Second World War, in order to fill in the holes left by bombs throughout the city. But people became allergic to the pollen, in a heavy way. It even started to make them a bit sick.

I met Lielia on the 21st of June 2010, during the so-called “white nights” when the pollen falls heavily. She was walking through a white cloud of dots; she was walking through pollen.

She refused to be photographed, but took me to her home and showed me a photograph of her son. A portrait that was made just after he was shot: he had a black hole in his head. Anton then was 34 years old, it was in 2000. While I was looking at the picture, Lielia’s dog - a Dalmatian - was jumping on me.

Pollen, in Russian, is spelt with the letters Pi, Y and X. It is pronounced [pux], but I always read «Nyx», as if it was written in roman letters.
In Russian, [pux] refers to something light and sweet, whereas “Nyx” is the Greek goddess of the night who gave birth to Thanatos.