Jens Olof Lasthein's White Sea Black Sea is an exploration of the shifting borderlands between Eastern and Western Europe in the aftermath of the collapse of the Iron Curtain. Evolving from photographs taken as early as 1993, and with a focused period between 2001 and 2007, the project traces a journey from Arkhangelsk in the north to Odessa in the south, documenting life along the eastern edge of the European Union. Lasthein, a Swedish freelance photographer, has long been fascinated by the contrasts and uncertainties that define transitional spaces, and this project serves as both a personal inquiry and a broader reflection on the meaning of borders.
The project is deeply rooted in the historical and socio-political landscape of post-Soviet Europe. The fall of the Iron Curtain marked a moment of enormous change, and as the EU expanded, new borders replaced old ones, creating fresh lines of division. White Sea Black Sea captures the complexities of this transition—how communities navigate their shifting identities, how the past lingers in the present, and how political changes manifest in the everyday lives of people. Motivated by a frustration with Western Europe's tendency to overlook the east, Lasthein sought to highlight the nuanced realities of these regions. His work does not offer definitive conclusions but rather raises questions about what it means to belong, what it means to be European, and how identities evolve within borderlands.
Artistically, White Sea Black Sea is defined by its panoramic format, a choice that enhances its storytelling capacity. Using a Widelux panoramic camera with a 140° field of view, Lasthein creates compositions that resemble cinematic frames, capturing multiple narratives within a single image. The wide-angle perspective adds complexity to the photographs, presenting scenes where various elements interact simultaneously. While there is an underlying melancholy to many of the images, a sense of humor and familiarity also pervades the work, emphasizing both the hardships and the resilience of the people portrayed.
White Sea Black Sea was shortlisted for the 2008 Swedish Photobook Prize, appeared in Swedish (Max Ström) and English (Dewi Lewis) editions, and traveled to Kulturhuset, Stockholm (2008), the Museum of Photography, Seoul (2008), and the Musée de la Photographie, Charleroi (2010).
