RUSSIA: Ukrainians and Russians in Siberia
My grandparents were Russian-speaking Ukrainian peasants who immmigrated to America in 1909. They had a large family of seven daughters and one son (my father) and 23 grandchildren. As a child I watched grandpa plow his small field of wheat and corn, Grandma milk the cow, gather eggs, and bake fresh loaves of bread, and I saw their devotion to the Orthodox church. Yet I regret knowing little about their personal histories and dreams. So when I had a chance to travel to rural villages in Siberia, knowing there is a long history of millions of Ukrainians living there, I wanted to capture impressions of my grandparent’s life and heritage.
As I walked along the dirt roads in Siberian villages, I felt I was photographing a hundred years ago. This is a land of long, harsh winters, where indoor plumbing is scarce, outhouses are plentiful, water is carried from nearby rivers, and greenhouses are necessary to grow food in an earth of continual permafrost. When I saw women wearing babushkas, children playing with sticks, and people digging in their gardens, it reminded me of my grandparents’ resilience, creativity and perserverance to survive with so little. Many villagers had never met an American, yet they generously invited me into their modest homes to share tea, or a meal of fish and potatoes, and a toast of vodka for good heath.
