Leskovik: Where Borders Fade
In the mountain town of Leskovik, perched on the Greek-Albanian border, daily life unfolds in isolation, detached from both nations and shaped by the rhythms of land and tradition.
This community stands alone, a place where time moves differently and people forge their lives on their own terms.
The project follows the landscape and the people who inhabit it—shepherds guiding flocks across steep pastures, children walking to school along quiet village roads, and families gathering to distill raki in rituals passed down for generations.
Here, work and community are inseparable.
Shepherding is more than a livelihood; it is an identity rooted in long days on the mountainside and a profound connection to the terrain.
Raki-making is a ritual of endurance and belonging, uniting neighbors in shared labor and celebration. Leskovik exists as a self-contained world, a “no man’s land” at the edge of two nations, where tradition is not performed but lived - resilient, enduring, and intimately tied to the land and people who remain.
An elderly woman walks with two donkeys near abandoned mines at the foothills of the mountains in Leskovik, Albania on November 9, 2025. Residents continue to live off the land and maintain traditional practices shaped by the region’s rugged terrain and isolation.
A woman sits in her restaurant, resting her head in her hand in Leskovik, Albania on November 9, 2025. Small family-run businesses like hers serve as both workplaces and social hubs, sustaining local life in this isolated community.
The yard of the town’s only school stands empty in the center of Leskovik, Albania before the school day begins on November 9, 2025. Education here takes place in small, closely-knit settings, reflecting the community’s enduring commitment to learning despite its isolation.
A mother walks her daughter to school, holding her hand in front of the town’s only school in the center of Leskovik, Albania on November 9, 2025. Daily routines like this reflect the close bonds within the community and the central role of the school in the lives of local families.
The town’s only hospital stretches across the upper part of Leskovik, with an ambulance parked in front, in Leskovik, Albania on November 9, 2025. The facility provides essential healthcare to the local population, reflecting the challenges of maintaining services in a remote and mountainous community.
An elderly man walks down a street, carrying a ladder alongside his dog in Leskovik, Albania on November 9, 2025. Daily life in the town blends work and companionship, reflecting the practical routines and close bonds within this small, isolated community.
The small town’s steep streets twist among traditional stone houses topped with later extensions in Leskovik, Albania on November 9, 2025. The town’s architecture reflects generations of adaptation to the mountainous terrain, shaping both the landscape and the daily lives of its residents.
An elderly man distills raki in a dedicated room in the backyard of his house in Leskovik, Albania on November 9, 2025. The practice is a long-standing local tradition, bringing together family and neighbors in shared labor and celebration.
Sheep move up a hill in the center of the town at the end of the day, guided by their shepherd in Leskovik, Albania on November 9, 2025. Shepherding remains a central livelihood in the town, with flocks guided daily across the steep terrain as part of a centuries-old tradition.
An abandoned car sits on a hill next to a path, filled with cardboard boxes and personal belongings in Leskovik, Albania on November 9, 2025. The scene reflects the town’s slow depopulation and the improvisational ways residents store and manage belongings in the rugged landscape.
The town’s cemetery spreads across the slopes at the foot of the mountain, with well-kept graves adorned with flowers in Leskovik, Albania on November 9, 2025. It serves as a lasting reminder of the community’s generations, reflecting local customs and the deep connection residents maintain with their ancestors.
A shepherd walks down a street with his sheep early in the morning, leading them out to pasture in Leskovik, Albania on November 10, 2025. Shepherding remains a central part of daily life in the town, with flocks guided along streets and hillsides as part of longstanding traditions.