Chechen girls (15 photos)

Photographer Diana Markosyan, working for a Moscow agency in 2010, asked to be sent to Chechnya. Diana, who grew up in Russia but studied in the United States and was only twenty years old at the time, had an interest in the history of the notorious region.

“The agency refused to send me to Chechnya, so I decided to go there myself. Grozny became my goal, and then my home.”

After the first trip, Diana returned to Chechnya, where many of her colleagues, as she admitted, did not want to go. Last November, Diana finally moved here. According to her, living and working in Chechnya is quite risky and dangerous; cases of kidnapping of girls are very frequent. Although the Russian authorities say that after more than a decade of wars, peaceful life in the region has improved, this is far from the case.

In her photo project, Markosyan tried to demonstrate the life of girls living in Chechnya. “It’s one thing to come here for a week, like I did before. It’s quite another thing to stay here and experience the experiences of the local girls.”

After the collapse of the USSR, Chechnya experienced a wave of Islamization. It became mandatory for local residents to wear clothes that corresponded to religious canons, polygamous and early marriages became more frequent, and men’s attitude towards women became more conservative. The head of the Chechen Republic, Ramzan Kadyrov, publicly stated that women are the property of their husbands.

In addition to religious restrictions, the life of Chechen women is complicated by social conditions. The republic has a high level of unemployment. Many young girls, even becoming mothers, are forced to live with their parents.

Diana had to change her approach to work, as local people treated her with distrust and were afraid to show her their everyday life. For example, a seemingly innocent photograph of a woman smoking can have the most detrimental consequences for the smoker.

Markosyan had to spend weeks next to the “models” before she managed to take even a shot. Those girls and women whom she included in her project are a reflection of the processes taking place in Chechnya.

1. Date

15-year-old Khedi Konchieva on a date with her boyfriend in the village of Serzhen-Yurt. The meeting should take place in a public place, and young people should sit at a decent distance from each other. Any form of intimate contact is strictly prohibited, and those girls who had sexual intercourse before marriage risk being killed at the hands of their own loved ones.
Photo: Diana Markosian

2. Seda Mahagieva

15-year-old Seda Mahagieva puts on a hijab before leaving her house. Seda says it is her duty as a Muslim.

Photo: Diana Markosian

3. Couple

A couple dances at a party in the town of Shali, 30 km from Grozny.

Photo: Diana Markosian

4. Farida Mukhaeva

13-year-old Farida Mukhaeva dances at her friend's wedding. According to tradition, the Chechen bride should stand modestly in a corner during the ceremony, and the groom should rarely appear in public view.

Photo: Diana Markosian

5. Wedding

Guests dance at a wedding, one of them waving a gun.
Photo: Diana Markosian

6. Schoolgirls

Ninth grade school students in the village of Serzhen-Yurt. Unlike previous generations, half of them wear the hijab.

Photo: Diana Markosian

7. Madrasah

Girls study the Koran in an underground madrasah, a religious school, in the village of Serzhen-Yurt.

Photo: Diana Markosian

8. Disabled people

A football team of disabled people who suffered from landmines trains in a gym on the outskirts of Grozny. More than 3,000 mine-related accidents have occurred in Chechnya since 1994.

Photo: Diana Markosian

9. Girls

Girls return home after morning prayer in the village of Serzhen-Yurt. They have been wearing the hijab for two years, despite their families' disapproval.

Photo: Diana Markosian

10. Shot

On the outskirts of Grozny during sunset, 29-year-old Kazbek Mutsaev takes a celebratory shot as required by an old wedding custom in Chechnya.

Photo: Diana Markosian

11. Layusa

16-year-old Layusa Ibragimova reads her wedding vows in the presence of a local imam. According to tradition, Chechen couples read their vows separately

Photo: Diana Markosian

12. Layusa

Layusa Ibragimova gets her hair styled and manicured at her home in the city of Urus-Martan. Her father gave Layusa in marriage to 19-year-old Ibragim Isaev. Before the wedding, Layusa and Ibrahim communicated only a few times.

Photo: Diana Markosian

13. Schoolgirls

Schoolgirls sit on a bench near the Heart of Chechnya mosque in Grozny. The mosque is the largest in Russia and Europe.

Photo: Diana Markosian

14. Chechen girl

Friends of Seda Mahagieva adjust her headdress in her home in the village of Serzhen-Yurt. Seda wears a hijab despite her mother's disapproval.

Photo: Diana Markosian

15. Guests

Guests eagerly await the groomsmen to pick up the bride from her home on her wedding day.

Photo: Diana Markosian