Iron Curtain
In Iron Curtain, Polish photographer Natalia Kepesz travels from Estonia to Ukraine, tracing the emotional and psychological impact of war and proximity to Russia. Through powerful portraits and quiet observations, she captures a continent on edge—where young people adjust their dreams, elders recall past horrors, and borders quietly reshape everyday lives.
Photography Natalia Kepesz
Iron Curtain is a photographic journey through the countries bordering Russia—from Estonia to Ukraine—where daily life exists in the shadow of a growing geopolitical divide. Created by Polish photographer Natalia Kepesz and German journalist Henning Sußebach, the project emerged from a road trip in August 2023, during which the pair travelled together, documenting stories through both image and text.
Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, a new Iron Curtain seems to have descended across Europe. While physical borders are rarely visible, emotional and cultural boundaries have hardened. Sußebach writes:
“How does it feel to have Russia as a neighbour? What does it mean to live now, at this time, at this global breaking point? What does everyday life look like for people who remain invisible on maps?”
On their journey, Kepesz and Sußebach meet a diverse range of people: teenagers altering their life plans in response to an uncertain future, elderly citizens haunted by echoes of past wars, and children enrolled in shooting lessons—taught to defend before they even understand what’s at stake. These moments are not dramatic; they are often quiet, deeply human reflections of life unfolding in fragile terrain.
Kepesz’s photographs trace an invisible geography of emotion and survival. Her portraits become windows into a Europe in flux—complex, vulnerable, and searching for stability. Each image echoes Sußebach’s observation:
“An expedition into a little-known world—and yet into the soul of our continent.”
Far from offering easy answers, Iron Curtain invites viewers into a lesser-known Europe—complex, vulnerable, and searching for stability. As Henning Sußebach aptly notes, the work is “an expedition into a little-known world—and yet into the soul of our continent.”
Her photographs reveal an invisible map of emotion and history, marked not by lines or politics but by lived experience.
About Natalia
The Polish photographer Natalia Kepesz lives and works in Berlin. After graduating in cultural studies and art history at the Humboldt University Berlin, she studied photography at the Ostkreuzschule Berlin and at the Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst Leipzig/ Academy of Fine Arts Leipzig (Klasse Bara). She uses photography as a means of self-expression to identify with hidden qualities of her character, to better understand her reality, and to express her interpretation of the world around her. By photographing, she transforms her own childhood memories. Growing up was always accompanied by the urge to discover something else.
Natalia Kepesz is a World Press Photo Contest 2021 Portrait Series winner (3rd Prize), a winner of Portraits- Hellerau Photography Award 2021 (Residence Prize) and exhibition winner of Belfast Photo Festival 2021 and Photo Israel 2021. She is Les Jours Prize winner of Les Boutographies – recontres photographiques de Montpellier 2021. She won the Nikon Grant 2023 and was a finalist at the Dior Photography and Visual Arts Award for Young Talents 2024. Her work has been exhibited internationally.
To see more about her work follow her on Instagram or visit her website
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