The Strongest Bond

Project is dedicated to relatives of the girls and children missing on the ex-Islamic State territories. This is the story about the distant consequences of the war affecting the whole families.

In 2015, young Chechens and Dagestanis began to leave for territories controlled by Islamic State - Iraqi Mosul and Syrian Er-Rakka in search of a better job and life. The recruiters promised them paradise. In accordance with the traditions their families had to follow the men - young girls with children in their arms.

2017 was marked by campaigns to clear the above territories from illegal gangs. Men were killed during bombings whereas their wives and children who did not take part in the conflict in any way were sent to the widows' houses, from where they were forbidden to leave. After the battles, the part of them received sentences ranging from 15 years to life. Some girls have gone missing and have not been in touch with their mothers for several years.

Mothers of these girls are ready for anything to return their daughters and grandchildren home. They are not sleeping at night, waiting for a message. There are dozens of web-groups in which these women cling to the smallest crumbs of information about their beloved relatives believing to the last that they are alive. These women face daily condemnation of the society in the Caucasus region - people consider their relatives as terrorists. Could these women have thought that the international conflict would come to their homes and affect their daughters?

I project photographs of the missing ones onto the figures of their mothers and grandmothers, showing that the war has no boundaries - it can affect people living miles away the conflict. I am also willing to display the strongest bond between relatives which cannot be destroyed by distance and time.