No return: the families evicted to make way for the Sochi Winter Olympics

The second of photographer Mikhail Mordasov’s slideshows published on The Calvert Journal tells the story of a family evicted from their home in Sochi. In October 2012, Alexei Kravets and his 13-year-old son were forced out of their house. Kravets never received compensation or an offer of temporary accommodation. He is not alone. Between 2008 and 2013, around 3,000 people were forcibly evicted from their homes. “They [the bailiffs] forced their way into the house and threw the family’s furniture, clothes and personal possessions into the yard, despite the fact that it was raining,” says Mordasov. “By mid-afternoon, the three-storey home in which Alexei and his son had been living in for over nine years had been demolished.”

Russian photographer Mikhail Mordasov first started photographing Sochi four years ago while on assignment for state news agency RIA Novosti. Fascinated by the changes taking place in the lead-up to the 2014 Winter Olympics, he decided to stay on and document its transformation. Through his photography, Mordasov shows the city’s many sides.