“Please come in and look how we live!” they would say. And there we were, instantly taken into the reality of their life. They were workers or jobless, young or retired, just the ordinary people of Russia. Ten years after the beginning of reform, injustice is installed as a system and the landscape frozen into chaos, without perspective or illusions. It would be simplistic to talk only about an economic disaster confronting the people we met. For the abstract figures translate into harsh reality. The land is one of violence, abandoned children, tuberculosis, drug addiction, homelessness, prostitution and, of course–now more than ever–alcoholism. What Russia now faces–and what I photographed–is a deep social, moral and cultural crisis.
