Journey along the "Road of Bones"

Jacob Aue Sobol's kick-starter campaign for his 'Arrivals and Departures: The Road of Bones' project is still running until April 2, 2016. The Danish Magnum photographer (*1976) is looking for support for the final chapter of the long-term project which has taken him all over East Europe and North Asia for the last four years.

“Beyond the diverse cultural backgrounds, political systems and beliefs, there are existential questions and feelings that unite us beyond borders,” Sobol says, describing his search for elemental, interpersonal relationships. For the last phase of his project, he went looking for traces of forced labourers in the Soviet Union, who were forced under inhuman conditions to build the Kolyma Highway in Siberia's icy permafrost terrain, between 1932 and 1953.

The exertion costs many of the labourers their lives. For this reason, the nearly 2000 kilometre stretch between Yakutsk and Magadan has earned itself the infamous title, Road of Bones. “Our goal,” according to Sobol, “is to dare to advance deep into Siberia, to prove that life, solidarity and humanity exist in the coldest, inhabited area on earth.”

Jacob Aue Sobol's undertaking, which, among other things, will produce a book, can be financially supported via the following link: Kickstarter: The Road of Bones.

In addition, the photographer will be a guest at LFI in May! Within the framework of an Artist's Talk and a workshop, he will be offering insight into his work.