Blown In With The Wind

In Shoyna (Russian for ‘forsaken’), a fishing village six hundred kilometres north of Archangel, life is slow. The inhabitants used to be very busy fishing, but in the late fifties a fishing ban was imposed and the thriving place lost its main source of income. Many villagers left. Still, other people came back, in search of silence, peace and freedom in the region where they grew up. There is certainly enough peace and quiet in this God-forsaken place, where in wintertime the polar night reigns and in summertime all houses are drowned by the sand. Far away from state and society, it is a place where the ultimate freedom can be found in solitude and a barren climate. It is clear from conversations with the current villagers, young and old, that this freedom is both desired and feared.