Jérémie Jung

Photographer
  Setomaa, a Kingdom on the Edge by Jérémie Jung     
Setomaa, a Kingdom on the Edge
Public Project
Setomaa, a Kingdom on the Edge
Copyright Jérémie Jung 2024
Date of Work Aug 2014 - Sep 2015
Updated Oct 2019
Location Estonia, Setomaa
Topics Borders, Community, Conservation, culture, Documentary, Editorial, Essays, estonia, Photography, Photojournalism, russia
At the edge of worlds, straddling the European Union and the Russian Federation, orthodoxy and paganism, death and life, secular traditions and modernism, stands the young kingdom of Setomaa. Proclaimed in 1994 by the Seto, a Finno-Ugric group, it was established to revitalize and affirm their identity after the restoration of Estonian independence in 1991.

The Setomaa culture has been weakened over time by nearly half a century of Soviet control and the newly established (1991), not yet ratified (2019), Estonia-Russia border, which severs the region.

Today, the Seto King, also the god of fertility named Peko, rests for eternity under the orthodox monastery of Petchory on the Russian side of Setomaa. He communicates with his people through the dreams of his vice King or Queen, the Ülembsootska, who is elected each year in August on the Estonian side of Setomaa.

The Seto culture is recognized through the Leelo, a polyphonic style of folk singing, which was added to the UNESCO list of intangible cultural heritage in 2009.

-
story lead between 2014 and 2015
exhibited at Les Rencontres d'Arles festival within the "Walls of Power" exhibition, 2019
exhibited at the Musée d'Orsay, Paris, 2018
printed in the Chinese monthly Civilization, 2018
printed as a book entitled "Au large du temps", Imogène editions, 2018 get your copy here
printed in the French monthly GEO, 2018
awarded the ANI Pixtrakk prize at Visa pour l'Image festival, Perpignan, France, 2017
published online in National Geographic, 2016
16,517

Also by Jérémie Jung —

Project

Portraits

Jérémie Jung / France, Paris
Project

Roof Investigations

Jérémie Jung / France, Paris
Project

🎬 Roof investigations

Jérémie Jung / France, Paris
Project

Protests against the Global Security bill

Jérémie Jung / France, Paris
Project

🎬 Setomaa, a Kingdom on the Edge

Jérémie Jung / Estonia, Setomaa
Project

🎬 Whiteland

Jérémie Jung and Virginie Terrasse / Greenland
Project

Techno Parade in Paris

Jérémie Jung / France, Paris
Project

Waiting for the World's Champions

Jérémie Jung / France, Paris, Champs-Élysées
Project

On the Threshold of a Spring

Jérémie Jung and Louise A. Depaume / France, Bagnolet
Project

Whiteland

Jérémie Jung / Greenland
Project

Pāri Mūriem

Jérémie Jung / Latvia, Cēsis
Project

The Last Dagestanese Tightrope Walkers

Jérémie Jung / Russia, Dagestan
Project

Kihnu, the Isle off the Time

Jérémie Jung / Estonia, Kihnu
Setomaa, a Kingdom on the Edge by Jérémie Jung
Sign-up for
For more access