"Vorkuta" in Revue Interstice, France | Jef Bonifacino
Jef Bonifacino’s Vorkuta series, is featured in Revue Interstice, an art magazine printed in a limited risograph edition. The issue, titled Regain, is limited to 135 numbered copies and available for pre-order from October 23 to November 15, 2026.
A former mining Gulag city located north of the Ural Mountains, 150 km north of the Arctic Circle, Vorkuta is not connected to the rest of Russia by road. It is two days from Moscow by train. Thirty-five years ago, prisoners mined coal from fourteen mines linked to residential neighborhoods around Vorkuta. In 2022, before the war in Ukraine, only four mines were still operating. Today, they have all closed.
Vorkuta is not only in a post-industrial and economic crisis; it is also suffering from the effects of global warming. The permafrost is thawing, the ground is softening, buildings are warping, and residents have to move to the neighborhoods that are still in good condition.