People nominee

In 2022, during the war with Ukraine and the general trend of rejecting "the pernicious influence of the West culture" promoted by the pro-Putin media, Russian government introduced new terrible laws banning any propaganda of LGBTQIA+ relations. After that a lot of representatives of the LGBTQIA+ community decided to leave the country. This place was not safe for them anymore.

Within the framework of this long-term portrait project, I have found LGBTQIA+ couples who left to Georgia, the most popular destinations for Russian migrants during wartime because of the visa free regime. I have made intimate portraits of the couples exploring their vulnerable mental state during the current darkest times and capturing their emotions somewhere in between the old life that has not finished yet and the new chapter that is about to begin. All the characters hope to find the right path in the context of the ongoing events and inner peace by the means of love. Is it possible with all these scars that the past leaves behind?

The title of the project refers to Bernardo Bertolucci's movie "The Dreamers" in which the director is exploring protest in the form of the escapism into physical and mental closeness.

Born in Leningrad, Russia in 1985.
I am a freelance documentary photographer working on a regular basis with National Geographic Russia, VICE UK/USA, lenta.ru, Takie Dela, Bird in Flight, Open Russia, Meduza, Vokrug Sveta magazines, RIA novosti, Kommersant photos and Getty Images agencies as a stringer.
In 2014 I graduated from U.A.Galperin School of Photojournalism of Saint-Petersburg with Golden Mark - award for the best diploma project which was dedicated to the revolution in Kiev.
In 2014-15 I spent 10 months in Nepal cooperating with different non-governmental structures and organizations such as Red Cross Nepal, Nepal Leprosy Trust whilst executing projects covering human rights issues in the country - children with HIV, discrimination of leprosy affected people, human trafficking.
I am the awardee of the number of international contests such as: winner of Istanbul Photo Awards 2018 in Daily Life Story category; winner of Debuts 2018 photocontest organized by Doc! Photomagazine; grand prix at Non-accidental Witness photocontest 2016; finalist of Hellerau Portraits Awards 2016, 2017; honorable mentions at Photography Grant 2016, 2017; winner of Luis Valtuena Humanitarian Photography Award 2016 granted by Doctors of the World.