In countries such as Ukraine, Russia, Belarus and Moldova, life in the countryside is hard to imagine. Time seems to stand still, while entropic forces prevail unhindered by the intervention of the government, or any other organization. The villages’ elderly inhabitants live out their last days in the lands of their heritage. They are attached to their homes and the history of these places filled with spirit and culture, regardless of all the misery of their lives.
In countries such as Ukraine, Russia, Belarus and Moldova, life in the countryside is hard to imagine. Time seems to stand still, while entropic forces prevail unhindered by the intervention of the government, or any other organization. These places, almost untouched by industrial progress, are mostly inhabited by elderly people (mainly women); all the young ones have migrated to the nearest cities. The state sponsored pensions these people receive are sufficient enough only to buy bread and milk. Moreover, in many of these places, there are no schools or jobs, no centralized gas or plumbing, and no hospitals, doctors or pharmacies. Cooking is done in firewood stoves, and water is gotten from wells.
The Government is not intervening in this situation because no one really cares for these people to live longer, as they are occupying land that is wanted for sale. As soon as someone dies, an expensive house is build on that place.
The villages’ elderly inhabitants live out their last days in the lands of their heritage. They are attached to their homes and the history of these places filled with spirit and culture, regardless of all the misery of their lives. These villages are slowly fading and disappearing along with those people who were born and will die faithful to these lands.
This project has a personal value for me because my grandparents also used to live in one of these villages (in Ukraine) and I remember visiting them as a child.