Hanna Jarzabek

With the fall of the Soviet Union, some of the former soviet republics entered overnight into a spiral of ethnic and linguistic conflicts. Breaking with the idea of multiculturalism, promoted by the USRR sometimes in a forced way, they sought to establish their national identities by becoming new states. In response, parts of those new entities decided to follow their own path and, at one time or another, declared unilaterally their independence. 

Almost thirty years later, those regions, considered by International Community as separatist, still haven’t obtained recognition, living in a kind of a bubble and a legal limbo and being able to maintain themselves basically thanks to the support and economic help of another protective country.

How do the inhabitants of these de facto states perceive their reality? What is the balance drawn almost 30 years later? How do you live in a place that does not exist in any world map? And above all - What is really the price of being a pariah within the International Community?

These questions served as starting point for my project, which will be recorded in the format of chapters. One by one each chapter will help you discover everyday life and inhabitants of all those regions.