Cruel Optimism — is a project about deceptive feelings, false promises and avoidance of a serious relationship with reality. On the one hand, the smile here becomes an instrument of dissociation. How to deal with the grim reality? An ironic and nervous smile, a smile that breaks the fourth wall, looking straight into the camera, into the viewer. Transforming discontent into a hysterical, inappropriate carnival.

On the other hand, a kiss as a form of escape from oneself: a voracious kiss appears as a method of dissolving in another, a channel of aggression, a game, a method of approach and repulsion. Such a kiss manifests not so much love as codependency.

The artist is trying to find ways to sublimate frustration through sensual and bodily images, maximum intimacy and intimacy, in which the characters live all their emotions to the limit.

The term 'cruel optimism' was coined by theorist Lauren Berlant and described in her book of the same name as "remaining attached to an extremely problematic object." The cruelty of such optimism lies in the fact that people are not always ready to give up its objects, even if they threaten their well-being.