15 unique photos from the life of the Russian hinterland

Photographer Nadia Sablin from Russia, who lives in Brooklyn, has won the annual American Firecracker Award for a photo project about her Russian aunts called "Two Sisters".

Two elderly unmarried aunts of the photographer - Aleftina and Lyudmila - have lived and worked in big cities all their lives, and after retirement decided to return to the traditional way of life, moving to their native village of Alyokhovshchina in the Leningrad region — to a house that their father once built. Despite their venerable age, women chop wood themselves, carry water from the well and sew their own clothes. They claim that it is physical labor that allows them to stay alive.

Nadia Sablin was born in the Soviet Union, but emigrated with her parents to America in the 90s.

For this photo project, Nadia spent three summers in a row with her aunts in Alyokhovshchina, taking pictures of their simple village life and the world around them.

They, of course, have their own garden and vegetable garden.

And "at leisure" they do needlework.

And they like to solve crosswords.

"My photos are a study of ancestral traditions and the earth as a means of survival," says the photographer.

"And also how these two women are a support for each other."

"The rural environment surrounding them is a character in itself, just like themselves."

"My project is dedicated to aging, family and a sense of belonging."

And here's what Nadia tells about her family: "In 1952, my grandfather began to lose his eyesight as a result of being wounded during the Second World War.

Wanting to return to where he was born, he found an unoccupied hill in the village, not far from his brothers and sisters.

He dismantled his house and lowered the logs down the Oyat River to reassemble it in a new place.

In this house, without heating and running water, my father and his brothers and sisters grew up. After graduation, they all moved to live in the city.

Now, half a century later, the house is still standing, and my two aunts live in it.

Their lives seem to be completely unaffected by the passage of time."