In Bashkortostan, a multiethnic republic within the Russian Federation, some women feel a conflict between the demands of their modern life and traditional expectations in their society. RFE/RL photojournalist Sergey Poteryaev has been exploring this internal tension and what ethnic identity means for females in the region. He previously published series on Tatar and Mari women. For this collection of photos, he asked women to close their eyes while thinking about what it means to be a Bashkir woman and recorded the responses they gave. They are dressed in traditional, antique clothing borrowed from the National Museum of the Republic of Bashkortostan in Ufa. (RFE/RL's Tatar-Bashkir Service)
