Shadows of Empire

History may be observed through events, with distinct beginnings and endings, clean and clear lines. History may also be observed through processes and mentalities, with half-tones and hazy edges. Breaks with the past – the end of an empire – do not happen in isolation or without nuances. Labels may change overnight, walls may collapse in one day, but ways of thinking persist, legacies run deep.

The collapse of the Soviet Union created borders between states and boundaries among people. Change was welcome, but at the same time change is uncertain. A new world may divide people in new ways. The intention of these images is to show shadows of empire interacting with and informing processes of change after empire – from the 1990s to today, from Tallinn to Ulaanbaatar. The new world and the old world live next to each other for a period of time. These images document moments in time of the journey to understand and to transcend legacies of the Soviet empire.