Photographers explore Estonia’s eastern border as emotional frontier

An international photography exhibition at the University of Tartu’s Narva College gallery explores Europe’s and NATO’s eastern border as more than a geographical line, ERR reported. The exhibition examines the border as a historical, cultural and psychological condition.

Photographers from several countries have long been interested in NATO’s external border, with interest increasing particularly after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Unlike news reporters, artists have time to explore the subject in depth and focus on the psychological and emotional meanings of borders.

Italian photographer Luca Berti has worked for years in southeastern Estonia, photographing the people and landscapes of Setomaa.

“For me, coming from Italy, this is of course a special border. It is somehow exotic, but also dramatic and sad, especially in the case of Setomaa, which is divided in two,” Berti said.

Berti hopes that he will one day be able to photograph the lives of Setos living on the other side of the border to gain a fuller picture.

French photographer Raphaël Gianelli-Meriano has spent years exploring the feeling of the border among the people and industrial heritage of Ida-Virumaa. He calls his project “Ida-Virumaa’s Grey Zone” because the complex borderland cannot be viewed in black and white.

“What impressed me most was that people live their lives here, and that is where the beauty of humanity is expressed. In fact, they are not very interested in all the complicated things that I see,” Gianelli-Meriano said.

Estonian photography artists find the outside perspective on the country’s borderlands intriguing. “In the context of this exhibition, the outside perspective, me as an Estonian curator and the large Russian community living here come together. I think it is an extremely interesting combination,” curator Kaisa Eiche said.

The exhibition “Unchanged at the Eastern Border” will remain open at the University of Tartu’s Narva College until December.