Hollow Hills Festival, Russia

The Hollow Hills festival was a huge musical and cultural event organized fully by volunteers. It started in the early 2000's as a sort of camping party for friends, and later became one of the most important independent open-air festival for all kinds of creative activity — from animation to music. I discovered it in 2010 and loved it because of its extraordinary atmosphere. I noticed how the tissue of reality got thinner there and some other worlds became visible. Trying to document it was really a pleasure. Unfortunately, the festival was closed by the organizers in 2012 because it became too popular. Young people used to go there to escape the routine. Obviously suppressed by reality, being malcontent with that, they always search for some way out. This festival was that kind of place — where some different rules were in force. My series is not about a musical event, but about those who try to "break on through". — Sergey Shubkin