The grief and pain I experienced in the summer of 2023, following the passing of my childhood dog, Betty, became the catalyst for dedicating this project to her memory. Her death also marked the closing of a larger chapter of my life, closely tied to my childhood in Russia. The heightened sense of nostalgia that followed led me to commemorate Betty by revisiting our shared years and reimagining her through the visual symbols of my childhood. This film presents my embodiment of Betty within a carefully crafted world of grief, memory, and fantasy.

The photographs of the final character costume were taken directly from the film I had a dog …, which represents the project’s final outcome. These images present close-up views of the decorative details across both the costume and the set design, created to fully embody the ‘Girl Dog’ persona in all her glory.

The selected process pages from my I had a dog … project document the development of the work from concept to final outcome. These pages include initial primary and secondary research mood boards, pencil drawings, colour palette studies, gouache paintings, digital repeat print developments, digital embroidery samples, silhouette development through toiling, and the construction of the final costume.