Russian Soul.

I lived in Russia from 2013 to 2016. It was a defining experience and the beginning of my photographic journey. Russian Soul brings together several series made before the recent upheavals that profoundly transformed the country and the region. Looking back at these images today, they have acquired another dimension: they document moments that can no longer be considered separately from the history that followed.

Some regions of Russia seemed frozen in time. Moscow was often in a festive mood, but from 2014 onwards, a desire for openness towards the West gradually began to disappear. The national narrative grew increasingly powerful: Great Russia, the Great Patriotic War and its heroes were celebrated and glorified. At that time, I was searching for the Ducha, the “Russian soul” that runs through the country’s history. This body of work is therefore not a document of the political situation. Yet, without knowing what would happen a few years later, you could already feel the change coming.