--- description: Located between the Dniester River and the eastern border of Ukraine, Transnistria is an unrecognized state of approximately a half million people. Photographer Kosuke Okahara documents a community slowly disappearing, caught between nations. title: Pictures of Transnistria: An Unrecognized State Caught Between Past and Present image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb9982c3d6fd114b7/698798190b72e3564e6dedaf/okahara_lenina_04.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [LightBox](/tag/time-section-lightbox/) ## LightBox Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Pictures of Transnistria: An Unrecognized State Caught Between Past and Present by [Mark Rykoff](/author/mark-rykoff/) ## Mark Rykoff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 21, 2011 6:00 PM CUT  A villager drinks home-made wine. A villager drinks home-made wine.Kosuke Okahara by [Mark Rykoff](/author/mark-rykoff/) ## Mark Rykoff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 21, 2011 6:00 PM CUT Located between the Dniester River and the eastern border of Ukraine, Transnistria is an unrecognized state of approximately a half million people. Though it asserts itself as a sovereign nation, it is claimed by Moldova and has no diplomatic relations with any United Nations member state. Visiting the small zone in January of 2011, photographer [Kosuke Okahara](http://kosukeokahara.com/stories/index-e.htm "undefined") wanted to see what “it feels like to live in a country that doesn’t exist, if the people are still very attached to the place where they live.” The winner of a [2010 W. Eugene Smith fellowship](http://www.kosukeokahara.com/stories/ibasyo-e/index.html "undefined"), Okahara has worked in places as diverse as Colombia, Egypt, Sudan and his native Japan (where he is currently based). In Transnistria, he found a place caught between past and present. These photographs were taken in the village of Lenina, a farming community that is losing much of its population, as young people depart to seek work in Russia or the Ukraine. Most of the residents, he found, were children left behind by their parents and older people. “As I stayed in the village, I wondered if it was possible for the people to keep their identity, as either Transnistrian or Russian or Ukrainian,” the photographer said in an e-mail to TIME. “Or do they need to adapt to the new world they are resisting?” _Okahara is currently working on a long term project on drugs in Colombia. More of his work can be seen_ [_on his website_](http://www.kosukeokahara.com/ "undefined")_._  A mother and daughter in their home in Lenina, a village in Transnistria, an unrecognized state between Romania and Ukraine. Photographer Kosuke Okahara visited the region in 2010, in order to explore what life is like "in a country that doesn't exist," to learn "if the people are still very attached to the place where they live." Kosuke Okahara  A shop inside the village of Lenina. Kosuke Okahara  Portraits of the soldiers who were born in the village and died in the war Transnistria fought in support of its independence. The slogan reads, "They defended the Motherland." Kosuke Okahara  A technician walks past a broken tractor at a local factory. In the village of Lenina, a farming community that is losing much of its population, many young people are departing to seek work in Russia or the Ukraine.  A villager drinks home-made wine. Kosuke Okahara  A collection of photographs of local residents dating to the Soviet era. Kosuke Okahara  A man prepares some chicken feed. Most of the residents of Lenina, Okahara found, were children left behind by their parents and older people. Kosuke Okahara  A man prepares a rabbit to eat. Kosuke Okahara  A family breakfast in the village of Lenina. Kosuke Okahara  An aging woman inside her home. 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