More than seventy years of Soviet rule, followed by two decades of frequent warfare, inflicted a heavy toll on Chechnya, a small, mostly Muslim republic in southern Russia.
Russia has effectively crushed the rebel movement in Chechnya; the main city, Grozny, has been rebuilt; and the Chechen government has embarked on a campaign to promote Islam.
Today alcohol is all but banned, polygamy encouraged, and single-sex hair salons and gyms are becoming the norm. Some Chechen women say their rights are being curtailed.
With these images, I hope to reveal a more intimate perspective of the personal lives and choices of girls who are grappling with questions of identity as they come of age in a place that is redefining itself through Islam.
Diana Markosian is a documentary photographer working out of Russia and the former Soviet Union. She holds a master's degree from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism. More of her work can be found on her website.
100 Words is a series in which photographers describe their work, in their own words.
Rico says that pictures do speak louder than words, especially only a hundred of them...
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