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Taboo. Borders.

Ekaterina Bodyagina

2017 - Ongoing

“...the members of even the smallest nation will never know most of their fellow-members, meet them, or even hear of them, yet in the minds of each lives the image of their communion ...”

- Benedict Anderson “Imagined Communities”

Project “Taboo.Borders.” is devoted to couples with different backgrounds in countries where mixed couples are considered taboo.

Over a year I photographed and conducted interviews with Arab-Jewish couples in Israel and Palestine and Greek-Turkish Cypriots on both parts of Cyprus. I also photographed border between Israel and Palestine (including the walls that separate Jewish settlements on Palestinian territories and cactus fences of the abandoned Palestinian villages) and the borders between Israel and its neighbors: Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria, as well as the Green Line that divides Southern and Northern Cyprus.

These two different regions have one topic in common: individuals who fall in love with a member of a community from/at another side of the border face abuse, threats, boycotts and even violence.

This project is intended to be continued and tell stories of borders that became taboos, or perhaps — about the taboos that became borders. What comes first is a disputable question that forms the core and essence of this work. The intention, however, goes further — to shine a light on hardships of people who try to disobey taboo and borders.

The project consists out of more than 80 images and 12 texts. So far it was fully self-sponsored. Female Photographer Grant would give me a possibility to continue my work on the project and explore the third region (Nagorny Karabakh and Armenian-Azerbaijani couples are the first on the list). Afterwards, I would like to work on a photo book that would combine both texts and images.

The interviews with the couples can be found here: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ykbi7ceb1lq8eod/AABreIf0Avwe1lb9OdfP4JYma?dl=0

Thank you for your consideration and Im looking forward to the results,

Ekaterina Bodyagina

+49 176 881 02159

www.ekaterinabodyagina.com

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  • A fence in East Jerusalem

  • Border with Jordan in Eilat, Israel

  • Petra, daughter of Russian Jewish Israeli and a Bedouin, in Tira - an Arab village in Israel

  • An abandoned Palestinian village between Tel-Aviv and Jerusa- lem. Arab villages used to have cactus fences as a natural border. Wandering through the Israeli landscape, one can see where Pales- tinian villages used to be through the plants

  • A tunnel at the abandoned military outpost at the North of Israel, close to the border with Lebanon

  • The shadow of a sight tower at the aban-doned military outpost in the North of Israel, close to the border with Lebanon

  • A Palestinian crossing the border to Israel in Betlehem after an interrogation at the blockpost

  • Fence in Eilat, a city close to the Egypt border

  • Palestinian Israeli Mohammad and Jewish Israeli Imri in their apartment in Tel-Aviv

  • A shooting spot at an abandoned military outpost at the North of Israel that has a view of Lebanon

  • Two statues of shooting soldiers that attract tiurists at the Golan Heights, a territory that was captured from Syria by Israel during the Six-Day War

  • Banayodis, son of Turkish woman Hatice and Greek Cypriot Banayis, playing in front of neighbours' house in the village of Pyla,
    on the territory of the partly recognized Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus

  • A fence next to the Green Line between Southern and Northern Cyprus in Nicosia

  • A fence that surrounds UN’s buffer zone that is located between Southern and North- ern Cyprus in Nicosia

  • Greek Cypriot Lazaros and Turkish Cypriot Cemile at the backyard of their house in Larnaca, on Greek Cypriot territory in Southern Cyprus

  • The border between Southern and Northern Cyprus in Nicosia

  • Turkish woman Hatice and Greek Cypriot Banayis next to their house in the village of Pyla,
    on the territory of the partly recognized Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus

  • A wire from the Green Line connects two houses in Northern Nicosia

  • Banayodis, son of Turkish woman Hatice and Greek Cypriot Banayis, sleeps in the car of his parents in the village of Pyla,
    on the territory of the partly recognized Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus

Taboo. Borders.

Ekaterina Bodyagina

2017 - Ongoing

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