In Life here is serious we describe the North Caucasus’ most popular national sport, wrestling. Every town and village has a wrestling school. North Caucasians always win medals at the Olympics.
Rob Hornstra // Sochi Singers
Every restaurant upholds a well-known Russian tradition of live musicians who belt out Russian chansons from behind an electric piano…
Rob Hornstra // Old and Forgotten
From the roof of the former Pervaya Maiskaya sanatorium you can see Vladikavkaz. Since 1992, the ramshackle building has served as a shelter for some 35 refugee families from South Ossetia.
Rob Hornstra // Orlyonok Children’s Camp
‘I cry when I see what has become of our heritage,’ the then president Putin said in 2003 when he visited Orlyonok children’s summer camp. Orlyonok lies on the Black Sea, about 120km up the coast from Sochi.
Rob Hornstra // Georgian Refugees – Stuck Forever
An estimated 250,000 Georgian refugees are living in ‘temporary’ accommodation, such as former student apartments, old primary schools and abandoned hotels…
Rob Hornstra // On the Other Side of the Mountain
Barely 200 km from Sochi, home of the 2014 Olympics, is Krasny Vostok, a village with one foot in the 19th century, still partially without gas and electricity…
Rob Hornstra // Truly A Real Country
Abkhazia considers itself an independent state (the Republic of Abkhazia), but is recognised by only four countries in the world.
Rob Hornstra // Proud
Between June 22, 1941 and May 9, 1945 more than 26 million Soviet citizens lost their lives. 65 years later the veterans still show off proudly their decorations during parades and official meetings…
Rob Hornstra // Sanatorium
The coastal strip on the Black Sea was famous for its sanatoria where workers were sent to revive their spirits and strengthen their bodies. Almost all them will be converted into luxury hotels for the 2014 Olympics.
Rob Hornstra // Battle of the Kodori Gorge
With Russian support, Abkhazia captured the officially demilitarised Kodori Valley, a remote mountainous region on the border of Abkhazia and Georgia…
Rob Hornstra // 101 Billionaires
The January 2008 issue of Finans Magazine reported that there are currently 101 billionaires in Russia. This series portrays an entirely different segment of the Russian population, the impoverished citizens…
Rob Hornstra // Roots of the Runtur
The traditional craft of fishing gave way to modern mass production which changed country and its people as they move away from the desolate fishing villages in great numbers…
Rob Hornstra // Communism & Cowgirls
The first Russian generation growing up after the decline of communism is influenced by Western subcultures. They are free to pursue individual development in a way that would have been unthinkable for their parents…