This photo is included in Bertien van Manen’s book ‘A Hundred Summers, a Hundred Winters’ (1994) it’s van Manen’s first book about her travels through the former Soviet Union. The title of the book refers to a Russian greeting upon an encounter after a long time. Van Manen’s images are defined by a fierce intimacy with her subject, as the viewer teeters on the edge of the frame, perpetually trespassing on private moments.
As there are “many photobooks documenting [the social and political situation following the collapse of the Soviet empire], Dutch photographer Bertien Van Manen's ‘A hundred summers, a hundred winters’ is one of the finest, a remarkable piece of work by an astute photographer who refuses to take the easy option and go for the cheap shot"--Parr & Badger, The Photobook: A History, Vol. II