The Secret History of Khava Gaisanova

The book about Khava, a woman living in a small village in the heart of the North Caucasus. In 2007 her husband disappeared, like so many men in the North Caucasus without any trace – kidnapped, arrested or simply executed and buried in anonymous graves. The unstable North Caucasus described in this book lies on the other side of the mountains from Sochi. In The Secret History of Khava Gaisanova, a grim picture unfolds of the region hosting the 2014 Winter Olympics, it tells the history of the North Caucasus from Tsarist Russia up to today and is heart breaking by the stories told by Khava. The design fits perfectly to this story. The book turns away from being a glossy photobook. On the contrary. By using the roughness of newspaper print it takes a lot away from the imagery to not have them overwhelm the text. Newspaper print is a vehicle, a means for the pictures to transmit the storyline and simultaneously capture the journalistic feeling.