Process:
“To Go With” is a poem that describes a meeting of two lovers who experience a significant connection with their immediate surroundings. Reading it, I felt like a fly on the wall in a fairytale long forgotten. The poem is about a tryst between two people, taking place at a weathered brick wall. In the poem the lover is described in some ambiguous terms such as being both “young” and “old” and sharing some physical features of the brick wall (“He had the features of the wall: solid, stubbled, crazed with tender cracks more and less than stone.”) as if he is a part of that wall in some inexplicable, mystical way. Towards the end of the triple quatrain, it is revealed that the voice of the speaker is part of that brick wall and their true nature is being discovered by “rubbing” and “tracing” out their shape in the brick wall: “At the wall he found me./ His fingers round me./ The lines of the wall/ of me, like lichen.”

This poem, to me, is about following your heart without really knowing why and from that, feeling like you are being discovered by your destiny.

I felt like I was peering into the emotional landscape of two characters in a fairytale in medieval times, from a land far away. I myself feel a very strong emotional connection to man-made structures but I’m more of a “new world” girl, so those feelings are reserved for 21st century constructions like abandoned factories, five-floor walk-ups, or empty subway stations at night. In my formative years, taking the NYC subway was an exciting and liberating experience. With almost no effort I could go wherever I wanted and meet whomever I pleased. I didn’t know who I would meet or run into, but I felt held by the city that was so interconnected by something as mundane as tunnels and trains. I felt like I was being delivered to my unknown destiny night after night, taking part in a mass ritual that would intuitively bring me to where I was meant to be.
—Sasha Olin

I am a NYC-based street photographer. I find inspiration from the chaos and solitude of living in a crowded city. My artistic aim in the long term is to bring dignity and beauty to a decaying modern world and project the viewer into a realm of fantasy and longing.
Instagram: @analog_drmz