Scrublands: portraits of people who hate modern civilization

France-based photographer Antoine Bruy has revealed a fascinating photo series consisting of portraits of people who have decided to turn their back on modern civilization in order to live in the wilderness.

You may be fascinated by technological wonders and other mesmerizing stuff provided by a modern civilization. However, not everybody thinks like you. In fact, there are lots of people who dislike everything about today’s society.

Photographer Antoine Bruy has gone on a trip across Europe with a different purpose: to explore the continent and to take beautiful photos. However, he has encountered people who have said “no” to the modern society and who are living as far away as possible from any kind of civilization.

A hitchhiking trip has turned into a full-blown project: “Scrublands”. It consists of portrait photos of people who have relinquished the “requirements” of the 21st century culture.

Photographer reveals “Scrublands”, a series of portraits of people who don’t want to live in a modern world

Antoine Bruy has spent quite a lot of time trying to document the lives of people living in the wastelands. He has tried to get to know them and to find out why they embraced a different type of existence.

Apparently, this is quite the “social movement” in France. It is called “back-to-the-land” and it is all about living a solitary life. However, a lot of these people have a family and children, so they are not entirely alone.

Nevertheless, the photographer mentions Peter, a German person who has lived like this for about 30 years and came to his current home with his wife and kids. It is said that they eventually went back to living in the city, while Peter is still living in the wastelands.

Either way, the “Scrublands” project is full of individuals who have stood by their tough decision, driven by political and personal beliefs.

Antoine Bruy is planning to extend his project to include people living in US’ wilderness

The photographer has mentioned that he has spent three years documenting Europe’s people living in small communities with no outside connection.

The portraits have been captured across Europe, not just France. However, the series is not complete, yet. According to Antoine Bruy, there are lots of people living like this in the United States, so he is planning to head to the US in 2015.

His trip has the specific role of meeting people who live in the wilderness in makeshift structures without worrying about the time as well as the stress of living in a modern society.

More photos can be found at the artist’s website, where you can also learn a thing or two about Antoine Bruy.