The images you will see below were not created by any crazy man with serious pyromaniac tendencies. In fact, they are authored by a Russian photographer named Danila Tkechenko, and although the act is quite dangerous - so don't try to repeat the feat! - The guy's intention was to make art (literally, in this case!) And also to protest against his country's government's neglect of the history and cultural heritage of a number of abandoned sites.

(Danila Tkechenko)

According to Wilk Vatroslawski of Slavorum, Danila is working on a project called "Motherland" - "Homeland" - and has decided to set fire to old abandoned rural villages to photograph the fires. According to Wilk, the first one has already been incinerated and, as far as anyone knows, it seems that the town used to be quite picturesque and beautiful for about a century. And the talk of incinerating things to protest?

Forced Industrialization

As the photographer explained, the village he set ablaze is just one of thousands of Russian settlements that have completely fallen into oblivion with the forced collectivization that took place in the Soviet Union.

(Danila Tkechenko)

This process consisted of the forced expropriation of private property - the great majority of agriculture - decreed by Stalin between 1928 and 1937 and aimed at eradicating the social structure that existed at the time in favor of the industrialization of the country and turning them into cooperatives or state productive units.

(Danila Tkechenko)

More than 2 million Russians living in rural areas were eventually sent to forced labor camps, and it is estimated that between 7 and 8 million people died of starvation or political persecution from collectivization. Then, about 20 years later, the Soviet Union Academy of Construction and Architecture implemented another forced expropriation.

(Danila Tkechenko)

This second "phase, " according to Danila, eventually sealed the fate of Russian rural culture and, as the government apparently has no interest in developing Russian agriculture or restoring the old villages, these sites, along with part of the country's historical heritage., are gradually dying. According to the photographer, since 1917, Russia's rural population has declined by over 80%, and today 76% of Russians live in urban centers.

So to prove your point (which, at heart, is noble), what did Danila do? He went there and set one of these villages on fire. After all, since they're really disappearing, why not speed up the process, right? His idea was to draw attention to the government's neglect and the abandonment of rural communities - and it did, because now it will probably be prosecuted. And you, dear reader, what do you think?