The Herbarium of Kherson State University is one of the largest collections of lichens, vascular, and bryophyte plants from southern Ukraine and Crimea. The collection, mostly formed by scientists over the last 50 years, is now carefully packed and stored in the Carpathian National University in Ivano-Frankivsk. It was evacuated there by the team of the Kherson University after the deoccupation of the city, to protect it from destruction due to prolonged shelling. The film Eyelashes and Sand Crystals focuses on the unique case of the "herbarium in exile" and the work of scholars who continue collecting samples despite lacking a place to store them. It is an experiment to translate visually the role of Kherson’s collection in the distorted temporality of war: where the present competes with the past, and where memory itself is threatened.

The development of the film was supported by the Ukrainian Ecologies residency program and the Emergency Support Initiative from the Kyiv Biennale.