East of Nowhere

The following is a funding proposal to continue a project that takes a particular response to the frozen conflict zone and ex-soviet enclave of Trans-Dniester, a narrow slither of land which has become the twenty year long disputed sovereignty of Moldova and remains unrecognised by the UN. This came about in the Soviet Union’s dying days, when alarm grew in the Dniester region over growing Moldovan nationalism and the possible reunification of Moldova with Romania. A 1989 law, which made Moldovan an official language added to the tension, and Trans-Dniester proclaimed its secession in September 1990.

The so called independence, was seen by many as a triumph that should have secured a better future, but the PMR government has only made time stand still in this little known region, where its people are subjected to a poverty stricken, isolated and somewhat entrapped existence. Most ex-soviet states systematically deleted references to soviet rule, but in Trans-Dniester a surreal artificial space has developed, preserving a deeply Soviet hyper-reality. Lenin continues to stand proud on every town square; the Hammer and Sickle still adorns the PMR state paraphernalia, along with political allegiance to Russia safely guarded. Some reports claim that PMR is a crime hotbed that profits greatly from non-regulated exports or ‘smuggling’ and other activities that thrive best in the twilight of disputed sovereignty, including arms manufacturing and trafficking of drugs and people. Certainly without international recognition the presidential government has been known to exploit human rights.

This photo-essay then becomes a timely response to a region that needs to resolve its difficulties. The day-to-day reality of maintaining such cultural and political heritage has become the complete opposite of preservation. Across the region, housing, streets and many disused and dilapidated municipal facilities lay in ruins. The state run supermarkets – essentially a monopoly, creates expensive consumer goods. Local, decent paid jobs are hard to come by where many seek work in Russia or Ukraine, leaving the new generation behind to look after themselves. Compared to the west we are spoilt by choice, so what western teenager could imagine living in a landscape absent of entertainment, modern facilities or endless consumer possibilities? Where parental presence is limited and travel or escape, economically and politically restricted.

Prednostrovie is the type of place where overt capitalism doesn’t yet exist with a landscape refreshingly absent of global branding. It’s a place where the new generation clash against an old way of life. There is an entrenched love for being Russian but most are steadily being seduced by western dress, films, music and a desire to travel and escape to foreign lands. Amongst the young there’s an excitement and optimism felt, in a place that doesn’t care for them, but this is merely product of being young and naive as the undercurrent of listfulness and an on going longing for something else is ever present, longing for something better or just simply something to fill the void.

To date there has only been a modest exploration of the territory, so this project intends to make a fresh contribution to an under-documented region. Taking a prolonged look, images illustrate social condition and psychological states of the people encountered in these remote enclaves and who become the central characters of the story. Piecing together fragments of history and politics, a world of artificiality creeps into the pictures and the variety and quality of light invites us to penetrate their hidden reality. Places of the everyday – a bedroom, a school or a park – become the stage of a suspended time where dreams can be formed. People are captured looking afar, but the camera’s gaze doesn’t intend to be voyeuristic, but rather assists the spectator to become projected in their elsewhere, so then East of Nowhere becomes a universal story, that in some small way can be reflective of anyone’s reality.

The Luceo Award would enable further travel to expand these facts into visual documents and resolve the body of work. This will involve the on going exploration of the Trans-Dniester landscape, one that holds very particular qualities and a somewhat macabre essence and which will continue to inform and resonate into the creation of intimate portraiture, examples of which can be seen in the work-in-progress images submitted for consideration. The fund will also assist with all production costs associated to the trip.

www.chloeborkett.co.uk

East of Nowhere The following is a funding proposal to continue a project that takes a particular response to the frozen conflict zone and ex-soviet enclave of Trans-Dniester, a narrow slither of land which has become the twenty year long disputed sovereignty of Moldova and remains unrecognised by the UN. This came about in ...