Vaste Programme, The Long Way Home of Ivan Putnik, Truck Driver, 2021

The Long Way Home of Ivan Putnik, Truck Driver is a collection of photographs and notes on the surroundings of remote Siberian roads and towns. Presented as an archive from a truck driver named Ivan Putnik, the photographs are actually made by various amateur photographers who uploaded the photospheres to Google Street View. Fascinated by the visual variety, Vaste Programme (IT) recontextualized the images to create a fictional story. Apart from showing life in a remote area of the world, the cropped stills present universal environmental concerns such as pollution, the extraction of fossil fuels and the transformation of the landscape. Even though the available imagery originates from a specific subset of the population, it does not amplify the archetypal image of life in Siberia, but rather provides the reader with a combination of both classic and unusual sights. From the beauty of unspoiled nature to grotesque industrial projects, and from monolithic Soviet-era suburbs to weirdly charming interiors. The Long Way Home highlights what is often overlooked, and focuses on the hidden gems of vernacular photography.