Polina Osipova was born into the Chuvash culture, a Turkic ethnic group with a history and a heritage that stretches across modern-day Russia and into Eastern Europe. Celebration and practice of Chuvash culture and skills have slowly been abandoned, swallowed up by time – but Polina has made it the focus of her artistry to salvage the rich costumery, photography and jewellery of her roots. Polina saves, repairs, and reimagines elements of her heritage and her past, bringing them with her into a fantastical future. From glossy beetles to pearls, native embroidery to stories of her great-grandmother, fragments are saved from oblivion and spun into new life in her work. Her delicate-yet-defiant images have become emblematic of a culture that is at risk of being swallowed up by oppression, and a lack of respect for the delicate arts of creation and preservation. At the beginning of the year, before the war, Polina spent time in London with Violet shooting this story. An interview with Polina was planned – but as Russia’s conflict with Ukraine unfolded, in lieu of an interview about her work we offered Polina space to speak of her experience and protest of this war in real time. Polina is now based in London. Her words, a personal diary of her experiences which she has sent us as the war has unfolded can be read in Violet issue 17. Out now @boutiquemags Polina by #ElenaRendina and #LeithClark photographed @the_lanesborough