Red Journey (2007-2008)

In 2007, I set off on a year-long road trip by public transport through the former Soviet Union. The result, ‘Red Journey’, uncovers various ways in which former Soviet republics are trying to redefine their national identity after the disintegration of the communist imperium. It focuses both on the remains of the past and on new tendencies that emerged after 1991.

While a minority has succeeded in reaching "The Good Life", much of the population in the shattered Soviet empire has long abandoned the lofty expectations that stirred in 1991. Freedom and independence have their price. What was once the Soviet Union is now the home of extremes, a barrel of contrasts. An uncertain present balances between nostalgia for the past and hope for the future. Life flows by. Society evolves, even if the direction is not always discernible. Transition is pliable concept. In a coffee house is the Moldavian capital Chisinau I asked press photographer Nicolae Pojoga how long he thought the transition phase would last in his country. He laughed bitterly and answered frankly: "Nothing is more persistent than the temporary".

The book ‘Red Journey’ is published by Lannoo Tielt and is available in my webshop. ‘Red Journey’ has been exhibited at FotoMuseum (Antwerp), Bozar (Brussels), BredaPhoto International Photofestival, Cultuurcentrum Hasselt (BE), Biennale Internationale de l’Image (Nancy, FRA), Flanders Centre (Osaka), Biennale de la Photographie en Condroz (Marchin, BE), Visa pour l’Image / screening (Perpignan).