Moscow’s youth – they are “optimistic, free and self confident”, as statisticians describe them. They grew up with the Perestroika, the economic and political uncertainties of the 90s, and were slowly exposed to Western influence. This generation, which is far too young to understand their past and far too old to not know it, is highly apolitical. They believe in Putin and the Church but not in the government. Most of them desire fashion, culture, art and music. They love foreign countries, going out and are highly motivated in their careers. They seem to revolt against old ideas, against an old world.

I attempted document this feeling while in Moscow. I travelled around Moscow (navigating through the different areas like the locals do, by Metro stations), met young people and talked with them about their future, their aims, their life. I also went to places, which evolved simultaneously, growing up with them, and which now form part of their life, of their future. The resulting images are not just about the young people of Moscow, but also an expression of my own ideas and opinions about this generation of young Moscovites.

Indian Summer is a title taken from a book by Adalbert Stifter, a key writer of the Biedermeier era (a time 200 years ago in Germany defined by an interest in the non-political and the growing urban middle class) – an era which seems to have a particular affinity to present day Moscow.

Evi Lemberger
www.evilemberger.co.uk