Photographs of "hermits" in Eastern Europe

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Traveling through Russia and Ukraine, Danila Tkachenko photographed "people who have decided to escape from social life and lived all alone in the wild nature, far away from any villages, towns or other people. The photo series is titled Escape. From CNN:


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Tkachenko tracked some of them down by calling local authorities, park rangers, newspapers and nature reserves, though it's difficult to track down a man who has chosen to be lost.


"Often the information is not accurate, so many trips went in vain," Tkachenko said.


The hermits live in homes made of local resources — lumber, burrows in the ground or caves — and eat what they hunt or gather. If they fall ill, Tkachenko said, they live with the condition or treat themselves with folk methods. He said one man lost his vision completely but continues to live by himself in the woods.

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"Hermits escape from society, find freedom in nature" (CNN)


Escape (Danila Tkachenko)