The village of Egoshino is a typical Russian village in the center of the European part of Russia. Before the revolution, it was part of the Vyatka province. Until 1987, Vyatka Province was the second most populated province of the Russian Empire, second only to the Kiev Province.
After the revolution, the village of Egoshino became part of the newly formed region the Mari ASSR (now the Republic of Mari El).

Life in the village of Egoshino, as in most of the surrounding communities, began to fade away even in Soviet times. Young people went to study in the cities and never returned. Among these young people was my father.

The collapse of the Soviet Union was fatal for all the surrounding villages. Collective farms began to die, and people began to move to larger settlements.

For the first time, my father showed my brother and me, the village where he was born in 1998. At that time, only four houses were inhabited by people. The rest of the houses were abandoned. At the end of the 90s, we were children and did not fully realize what had happened. My brother and I did not understand how my father and grandfather felt when they walked through the village's overgrown streets between abandoned houses.

The second time we came to the village in 2009. At that time, only one house remained inhabited, and the surrounding fields were already actively overgrown with forest.

In 2018, there was no one left in the village. All the houses are abandoned, and a forest appeared on the agricultural lands. We went into some homes and captured the latest testimonies of people's lives. Nature slowly but surely returns everything back.

During our trips, we regularly visited the village of Bakhtino and holy water springs and the village of Maskanur (rural administrative center). Now the process of depopulation has covered larger settlements. Now it is the turn of the rural administrative centers to return to nature everything that was taken from her earlier.

Geographical coordinates: 57.1518621N 48.7041613E


My gear:

Sony Action Cam FDRX3000 https://goo.gl/nxdeii
Sony SLTA65V https://goo.gl/Vobzyn
Sigma 18250mm F3.56.3 DC MACRO HSM https://goo.gl/9zx8Vy