Eighty faces stare right into the camera. Some seem calm, some slightly frightened or confused, and others bluntly indifferent, if not somewhat ironic. Forty double portraits – or portraits of couples, to be precise, sitting side by side. People of different ages, gender, and social status – all holding the same pose, the same neutral facial expression. In some cases, their facial features hint at possible blood ties.

They all share the recurrent pose, almost identical sheepskin coats, hair braided in the same way. Some are sitting in front of the camera without even taking their fur coats off, others are neat and dressed up. They somehow appear detached and separate, as if sitting there alone, with no one else on either side: no other person, no emotional contact with the neighbor. Their disturbing and bizarre existence next to one another, along with the apparent emptiness of the shot, suggest they could easily move apart.