The Moscow Project, by photographers Alessandro Albert and Paolo Verzone is a fascinating report on the changing face of the post-Soviet city.

The pair visited the capital three times, in 1991, 2001 and 2011, taking more than a hundred portraits on each occasion.

The Calvert Journal has already featured a series from 1991, the moment just after the USSR’s collapse, when Russia was entering one of its most turbulent and uncertain decades.

When Albert and Verzone came back to Moscow in 2001 they witnessed the great change brought about by the past ten years.

Wild capitalism and western culture had influenced the style, mood and overall atmosphere.

“The differences between passers-by had changed dramatically”, the photographers remember.

“A strong rift between rich and poor replaced the previously communal atmosphere of ‘91.”

These photos were taken after the end of the 90s.

But they reflect the previous decade much better than the one to come.

People wore big awkward leather coats.

The combination of colours and shapes was always slightly “off”.

These were the first steps in the rise of Russian consumer culture.

Text: Anastasiia Fedorova