"When this was taken, in July 2019, he was the sole resident of the village. He was 65. A few months before I took it, the only other remaining residents a couple in their 40s were murdered by a farmer from a neighbouring village. Their half-naked bodies were found on the ground. They'd been beaten to death. It was a very dark story and, after this terrible incident, Grisa told me he no longer felt safe living alone there."
"He had a lot of animals so was not completely alone: turkeys, geese, chickens, pigeons, bees and 120 ducks, many of them in the picture. His day began at 4am. When I went to photograph him for an assignment on the rural areas of Moldova for the New York Times, I wanted to start the day as he did, at sunrise."
Grisa moved to Dobrusa in 2000 to start a sheep farm and by July 2019 was the village's only resident at age 65. Thirty years earlier Dobrusa had about 200 people, but the population declined after the Soviet Union's collapse in 1991. A few months before 2019, the only other remaining couple were murdered, prompting Grisa to consider moving. He kept many animals—turkeys, geese, chickens, pigeons, bees and 120 ducks—rose at 4am, drank wine and coffee in the morning, tended animals, harvested vegetables, and collected honey to sell locally. He also kept photographs from his Soviet army service.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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