At a time of profound environmental and social change, this project explores questions about how we choose to live, our relationship with nature, and what we consider to have intrinsic value.

– We are dead to the world when we come here. Gone. We are only for God. You can stay, but you may not photograph our faces, said the abbess. A moment’s hesitation arose. Then curiosity took over. Why did they want to hide their faces? In a world where focus is on the individual and everyone shows their face everywhere who do you become when you give up your identity? The women live closely together, on the margins of the outside world. What do we need?

At three o’clock every night everyone rises to participate in a mass in the chapel. The people I photograph are wrestling with their demons, and I with mine. They speak of the devil. Is it possible that the nightly prayers maintain the balance for all of us? In the flickering glow of candles and accompanied by the sound of beautiful voices singing the stormy emotions are stilled unexpectedly, much like a small personal revelation. I think I understand something.

This is a work in progress that began in 2006. Since then, I have returned to the sisters in Greece, near the Bulgarian border, several times. Their way of life has in some ways transformed. The story continues to unfold. What you see here is only a small part of the project. There is more to come.

Travel report after receiving the Kavalla grant in 2014.