Photographer Ekaterina Vasilyeva is the Edge of Humanity Magazine contributor of this social documentary photography. From her project ‘Neva: River For People, People For River‘. To see Ekaterina’s gallery of projects and photographs click on any image.
These images explore the relationship between the people and Neva River, St. Petersburg, Russia.
Although, the attitude of people towards the Neva River, becomes more aggressive each year, the people living in the Neva River Valley love their river and instinctively want to see in the surrounding landscape not only natural resources for their physical existence, but also a source of aesthetic pleasure.
In the past the role of rivers and canals for the city has been strongly emphasized. Russians love of their water.
During the reign of Peter the Great each house owner had to have a boat and every house next to an embankment had a mooring.
Its name Neva River received from the Finnish word ”neva” which means a swamp.
Thanks to the Neva River St. Petersburg was founded. For builders of cities nature has always been a ‘clean sheet’. Its resources were used at the expense of its own gradual extermination.
In the texts on the history of cities nature usually serves as an inert background for the heroic conquest.
In my project I wanted to find a balance between harmony and destruction.
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By Ekaterina Vasilyeva
