The author and photographer David Staretz has been traveling to the Black Sea city of ODESSA on a regular basis for twenty years. His Russian wife Viktoriya accompanies him, and thanks to her Russian language and joviality, enables a familiarity and access to acquaintances that would remain hidden from the typical tourist traveler. Staretz: “Odessa is reminiscent of an idealized Vienna that never existed, but with a steep coast and a harbor. A longed for city, without ever having realized what my fascination meant. In any case, Odessites love animals. Stray dogs get to wear sweaters in winter. Odessites love their city, that’s why they leave everything as it is: grandiosely dilapidated. But this love doesn’t necessarily have to do with beauty. Therefore this book is not an ode to the city, but simply shows what it looks and feels like there: meager, funny, gritty, decayed and warmly humane; hence in a certain manner it radiates innocence.

David Staretz, *1956 in Horn, Austria. Lives and works in Vienna.