B U R N

On August 5th the victims of the Stalinist regime were commemorated in a ceremony at the Sandormorkh Memorial Cemetary. Thousands of Gulag prisoners were killed and buried here, yet the tranquility of the pineforest makes it almost impossible to believe that such atrocities were committed in this very place.

During the event a Russian gentleman pulled me aside and pointed at the ground in front of us. I could not understand a word of what he was saying, but realised he was trying to direct my attention towards these strange mushrooms. He desperately wanted to tell me something and finally, with the help of his friends, he came up with the word “blood”.

I am sure there is a natural explanation to this, but the thought of the forest floor sweating blood on this day is painfully illustrative and beautiful.

There are more pictures available here.

I am back from the North. I have a million stories to tell and hundreds of pictures to go with them.