Empty land Promised land Forbidden land (2013) – Rob Hornstra

Empty land, Promised land, Forbidden land is the result of four trips between 2007 and 2013 to the tiny de-facto country of Abkhazia. Rob Hornstra and Arnold van Bruggen have spent numerous weeks of traveling through the country, seeing how it is slowly trying to claw its way out of isolation. The de-facto country broke away from Georgia after a short, violent civil war in ’92-’93 and was recognized as independent in 2008 by Russia, Venezuela, Nicaragua and the atoll of Nauru. The book became a journey of discovery, not only of the Abkhazia itself but also of the places where the refugees live. The second revised edition from 2013 is slightly smaller than the original edition and has been updated with new photography and developments.

“The texts and photographs testify to the breadth and depth of the research undertaken by the two authors. The result is a book of self-assigned and self-published journalism done in a way never seen before.”
—foam magazine, 2011