For most people living in modern society, a sense of community is hard to find. But for one rural Virginia collective, egalitarian values are held in high regard.
Photographer Sarah Rice was first drawn to documenting the southeastern commune back in 2011. “I was particularly interested in communities that are formed of people who have made drastic decisions to leave society as we know it, such as cloistered nuns,” Rice tells National Geographic.
It began as a two-week photo essay, but unintentionally developed into a six-year project that intimately captures the rawness of rustic living. Through her unexpected compositions, the rituals of the everyday - farming the land, slaughtering the animals, milking the goats - become profound acts of survival.
