Every season, Rob Hornstra selects an image from his archive and makes it available as an exclusive handmade C-print (36 x 42 cm / 14.2 x 16.5 in). The number of buyers determines the print run, up to a maximum of 25. Once the season is over or print sold out, the image is no longer reprinted. This offer runs until 31 March 2023. Prints will be shipped in April 2023.

During the month of May 2003, I traveled through Chelyabinsk province in Russia to work on my graduate project Communism & Cowgirls. At the time, I did not know that former Soviet countries celebrate the victory over Nazi Germany annually on May 9. When I saw all those old and proud veterans standing heavily loaded under medals, I instinctively grabbed my Horseman large-format camera and started portraying them.

In the years that followed, I portrayed dozens of veterans. My last 9-May celebration was at Vake Park in Tbilisi, Georgia, in 2013, when writer Arnold van Bruggen and I made our final trip as part of The Sochi Project. Nikoloz Charashvili, then 92 years old, stood out for his vitality. He fought for nearly four years at the front, from Stalingrad to the Elbe River, where the Red Army and the Americans met.

Title: Nikoloz Charashvili, Tbilisi, Georgia, 2013
From the series: The Sochi Project
Original: Large Format 4x5” negative film
Print technique: Analogue handmade C-print
Paper size: 36 x 42 cm (14.2 x 16.5 in) / Image 30 x 36 cm

In addition to the purchase of the Winter Print 2023, you can choose to have the same work immediately framed. Please click here for more information.