Fotograf Magazine

The Sochi Project is almost as ungraspable as the North Caucasus that it describes. A documentary-reportage epic by Rob Hornstra and Arnold van Bruggen, seven years in the making, features an interactive website, several books, a wealth of images and solid text. It’s less about Sochi and the Olympics than about how a piece of land beyond the fragmented scope of mainstream media manages to get by in the face of globalization directed by Putin’s Russia. How despite horrific terrorist attacks, the region manages to sustain its distinct beauty. But my characterization isn’t spot on, either. The Sochi Project is an epic inverted. Instead of big heroes and large tales, it’s about local people and their memories.