White Sea Black Sea – travels on the Border, by Jens Olof Lasthein

June 11th, 2010 — Comments (6) — Permalink

Categories: Contributed Tag: Jens Olof Lasthein, panoramic, travel

Jens Olof Lasthein

Following text and photographs by Jens Olof Lasthein.

I was born three years after the Berlin Wall was built. My childhood was marked by the division of Europe, the sharp line between East and West. External political conflict shaped inner mental boundaries that had to be confronted – who are they; who are we?

I travelled through Eastern Europe for the first time in the summer of 1984. At the age of 20, I had long wanted to see what life was like on the other side of the Iron Curtain, the part of Europe I could only fantasise about growing up in the West. I didn’t doubt that the media image of a uniformly grey, comfortless world wasn’t the whole story, but I had little idea what to expect instead.

Jens Olof Lasthein

I travelled the way I always did in those days: by hitch hiking. Highways were practically non-existent, so drivers had no trouble stopping to pick me up and I made my way at a slow but steady pace. Afterwards, I still wasn’t sure if I knew the answer to my question about what it was like on the other side, but at least I had met many Eastern Europeans.

via White Sea Black Sea – travels on the Border, by Jens Olof Lasthein.