During the two Chechen wars,
Grozny was partially destroyed.
Entire districts were erased.
Children grew up between ruins, soldiers, and silence.
Then the Shapito Circus arrived.
With a mission to give Chechen kids something they had never seen before.
Guarded by armed soldiers day and night.
Cardboard houses were built in the brutal winter for the staff and for us,
two photographers making a project.
The circus protected like a military base.
Crisp frost. Blue snow.
A bucket as a shower.
Mosque bells at dawn.
Under the tent
Acrobats performing without safety ropes.
In many Russian circuses I have never seen artists perform with protection,
risk is part of the value they give.
A bear walking the tightrope blindfolded.
A horse pretending to be dead.
Children who had never heard applause learned how to clap.
In a city rebuilt from pain
people discovered how to laugh again.