Photographer Antonella Monzoni is the Edge of Humanity Magazine contributor of this documentary photography. From the project ‘Somewhere in Russia – A reportage of daily life’. To see Antonella ’s body of work, click on any photograph.

It’s cold and lonely. Only a couple of roads connect the small town to the outside world. Virtually impassable by car, the roads are more like muddy, bumpy trails. Pervomaiscki is located somewhere in northwest Russia, in the Vologda region, amidst endless forests and inaccessible swamps. The small village is isolated and cut off from the world. The regional capital, also called Vologda, the largest city, is 200 kilometers away, and Moscow is a full 1,000 kilometers away.

In April 2005, Italian photographer Antonella Monzoni left for Pervomaiscki, which literally means “May Day Village.” Maria, the elderly mother of Antonella’s friend, has lived there all her life; her daughter Tania, who works as a caregiver in Modena, emigrated to Italy when she was a girl. “You understand why I left, right?” Tania asks a rhetorical question as they walk through the village together. Life in this remote place is hard. There’s no running water, so the villagers wash with water from the nearby river; stream water is used for cooking, and rainwater is even drinkable…

Mostly elderly people live here. The inhabitants are mostly lumberjacks. During the long winter months, when a stubborn layer of snow covers everything, they can’t work and aren’t paid. They spend their days in front of the television, drinking copious amounts of vodka. “They live somewhere between complete passivity and alcoholism. Vodka numbs reality. Nevertheless, the people are full of dignity and pride, friendly and helpful,” Antonella explains. When the snow finally melts, the garbage becomes visible and empty vodka bottles peek out of the mud.

Antonella Monzoni was warmly welcomed throughout Pervomaiscki; everyone shared the little food they had, as well as, of course, the vodka.

The photographer’s impression was the vision of a people who have lived through imperialisms and dictatorships, from the Tsar to Putin, without change, without ever receiving the hope of a better life.

This is the remote Russian province, this is the true, profound Russia that knows no truth, the reason for the constant wars that have always robbed it of its youngest souls.

Antonella Monzoni practices deeply humanist reportage photography, with an intimate approach aimed at the assimilation of memory. Her projects transcend the limits of documentary evidence to affirm the value of testimony.

She began her career in 2000, photographing the most hidden roots of human civilization, showing how often what appears geographically distant from us is actually very close from an internal perspective.

Her journey is the fruit of a polymorphic culture, enriched by the value of experience, and over time she tells us stories of women, of silence, of beauty, of strength, of relationships with territories and their people.

In 2005 she met Henriette Niépce, great-granddaughter of the inventor of photography Nicephore Niépce, who opened her home after 50 years of self-seclusion. This led to the creation of Madame, an award-winning project that became a book in 2011.

From 2008 to 2010, she dedicated herself to recounting the wounds of the Armenian people, primarily the genocide suffered at the hands of the Turks in 1915, considered the first genocide of the 20th century, yet not yet recognized by Turkey. This led to the creation of the project Ferita armena (Armenian Wound), which would receive international awards and numerous accolades, including the 2016 Bastianelli Prize for the best photography book published in Italy.

From 2008 to 2012, she created, with the lightness of a French noir, The Secret Guest, a series of photographs taken in various hotel rooms before they were cleaned by the staff. A challenging work that demonstrates the photographer's ability to tell stories, both possible and impossible, that blend time, solitude, melancholy, misunderstandings, and love.

In 2018, FIAF awarded her the honor of Master of Italian Photography (MFI).

She is a member of the “Donne Fotografe Italian Women Association”.

She is deputy editorial director of the photography culture magazine "Gente di Fotografia."

Antonella has received several national and international awards. She has exhibited in solo and group shows in Italy and abroad.

All images and text © Antonella Monzoni