In winter of 2007, Jochems accidentally found himself in Dampremy, a suburb of the Wallon city of Charleroi, « discredited » in Belgium. Soon he saw the « beauty in the ugliness » of this neighbourhood, consisting of no more than five streets. Nothing but derelict terrains in between houses. Poverty, unemployment neglect and inequality crammed in a few square kilometres. Imminent danger seems constantly present. Yet there is no panic, nor melancholy. Irresolution might be the best word for it.

On the thematic of the wall, Gert Jochems proposes a work where every image is the result of a montage of three photographs: a wall in the middle, and two photographs that respond one another from every corner of the frame. As if the things turned apart by men could be gathered by the photography. A manner that, instead of opposing people, would be like a mirror. Everyone becomes a bit and the other end can then be considered.

The pictures that Gert Jochems took on his trips to every corners of Russia show a disrupted society in a deep crisis.