The Secret History of Khava Gaisanova
The Sochi Project
Rob Hornstra & Arnold van Bruggen
This book is part of ‘The Sochi Project’ which documents the explosive region around the Russian city of Sochi. Khava Gaisanova lives in Chermen, a village in the centre of the North Caucasus. Her husband disappeared in 2007, like so many men in the North Caucasus disappear, are kidnapped, arrested or buried in anonymous graves.
In ‘The Secret History of Khava Gaisanova’, a grim picture unfolds of the region. The design fits to this story. The book turns away from being a glossy photobook. On the contrary. By using the roughness of newspaper print it takes a lot away from the imagery to not have them overwhelm the text. Newspaper print is a vehicle, a means for the pictures to transmit the storyline and to capture the journalistic feeling.
