Donbas Paradise
The entrance to a grocery store with the name "Dream".
March 2015
Donbas is the industrial region of Ukraine. In XIX century, people from all over the Russian Empire, and later the Soviet Union are came there in search of work and a better life. The Soviet Union created an utopia about "the bright future" for these people and then they taught the next generations to believe in this utopia too. After the USSR collapsed, these generations still believed in the utopia. They did not willing to change anything, and the region was in a long-lasting decay and crisis.
However, despite poverty and hopelessness, people there try to add some colour to their lives. This sometimes creates unimaginable contrasts.
My series "The Donbas Paradise" illustrate the environment that these people created - the one that also made them its victims.
