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Background information
In March 2014, Vladimir Putin signed a treaty integrating Crimea into the Russian Federation. The annexation of the peninsula was preceded by an internationally controversial referendum. Neither the referendum nor the annexation of Crimea are recognized internationally to this day. The events continue to shape Ukrainian politics and relations with Russia. For six years now, a war fueled by Russia has been raging in Donbass - with more than 10,000 dead. The economic situation in Crimea has also deteriorated considerably since the annexation. The main source of income, tourism, has collapsed, and the isolation from mainland Ukraine repeatedly leads to supply bottlenecks. The sanctions imposed by Russia and the restrictions on freedom of expression and the press are changing the lives of residents dramatically. In particular, the Crimean Tatars, a Muslim minority who called for a boycott of the referendum in 2014, are subject to intimidation and reprisals by the Russian authorities.
For five years, between 2015 and 2019, the photographer Moritz KÜSTNER documented the change in Crimea and the life of the Crimean Tatars.
Content
In 'Silence is the Sound of Fear', Moritz KÜSTNER shows individual fates, expulsion, hope, resistance and new beginnings in a dense narrative made up of images and text.