Compelling Portraits of People Who Live Alone in the Forest

While most people all over the world live in a community with others around them, Russian photographer Danila Tkachenko captures those that choose to turn their backs on this lifestyle. His compelling series Escape documents people who instead live a solitary existence in the wilderness. They make their homes in the Russian and Ukrainian forest and fashion makeshift dwellings from the land.

We see Tkachenko's subjects appear in different ways throughout the series; some convey a sense of peacefulness as they lay on the trees, while others look gaunt and less at ease. The photographer is sure to show their homes, too, and it's remarkable to see the different structures that people build and the objects they collect. Surrounded by the lush, green forest, it's where these individuals have taken refuge from their former lives.

All of these photographs and more are compiled into a book titled Escape, which is available from Peperoni Books.

Danila Tkachenko website
via [TAXI]

Sara Barnes

Sara Barnes is a Staff Editor at My Modern Met and Manager of My Modern Met Store. She is a graduate of the Maryland Institute College of Art where she earned her BFA in Illustration and MFA in Illustration Practice. Sara is also an embroidery illustrator and writer living in Seattle, Washington. She runs Bear&Bean, a studio where she stitches pet portraits and other beloved creatures. She chronicles the creativity of others through her website Brown Paper Bag and newsletter, Orts. Her latest book is Threads of Treasure: How to Make, Mend, and Find Meaning Through Thread, published in 2014. Sara’s work has been recognized in Be Creative With Workbox, Embroidery Magazine, American Illustration, on Iron and Wine’s album Beast Epic, among others. When she’s not stitching or writing, Sara enjoys planning things that bring together the craft community. She is the co-founder of Camp Craftaway, a day camp for crafty adults with hands-on workshops in the Seattle area.
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