Amsterdam- and Paris-based photographer Olya Oleinic was invited to develop new work under the theme “How to Make a House a Home.” Through workshops, community events, a collaborative recipe book, and photographic research, she explored what it means to live and to create a sense of belonging on Ojika.

Although Olya’s primary medium is photography—and more recently video and film—her passions extend
to food and pottery. In Ojika, rather than focusing on the picturesque, she chose to engage with the theme of the residency through the idea of the home, and more specifically, its function as a space of care and connection.

By collecting food stories and recipes from local residents, she created a book later published by Studio The Future, titled A Small Book of Ojika Recipes. Through these exchanges, she discussed with islanders their notions of home, the spirits and legends associated with domestic life, and the rituals that sustain community. She also transformed a local house in Nakamura— affectionately called the “Nakamura House”—into a communal space where people could gather and share. For her, the central symbol became the hearth: the warm, shared place where people come together around food.

To further explore this theme, Olya created a series of simple ceramic works, emphasizing the modest beauty of the home rather than the social or political structures that frame it today. She reminds us that a home is, above all, a place of comfort, surrounded by both physical and emotional warmth.

In line with the broader framework of Ojika Artist in Island, Olya also organized a hands-on workshop with middle school students. Using bamboo and small pieces of textile, the children imagined and built models of what they envisioned as the future of Ojika.