Along Russia’s Volga River, Back to the Simple Life
Oksana Yushko has been photographing Russians who have fled big city life to get back to the land – and basics – along the Volga River.
In 1997, Oksana Yushko moved from her home in eastern Ukraine to Moscow for an accountant’s job at a large herbal medicine company. It was a lucrative position, but soul-crushing. Every day was exactly like the next, she said, like a Russian version of the Bill Murray movie “Groundhog Day.” Seven years later, she left the security of her job to become a photographer, transforming her humdrum life into one of travel, adventure and no regrets.