Photographs from projects:
(c) Elena Anosova. Section
(c) Mikhail Domozhilov. Ultras
(c) Tatiana Vinogradova. Days of Melancholy

In this publications we combine three photographers, who tell the stories from the inside - from closed territories, hidden or strange communities, about unknown places and from daily life of cities and people etc. Presented projects can give you a deeper look to the individual people stories within the collective perspective.

Elena Anosova. Section
Project about women in prison is part of a trilogy about women's penal institutions. I take interest in processes of isolation and supervision, relationship and restrictions in women's societies. For several months I was in several prison colonies for women in the Siberia.
In Russia almost exultant romanticization of the prison with all rogue romanticism coexists hand in hand with fastidious antagonism of everyday life and living habits of inmates.
Working on the project I realized that prison community is a model of our society. With the development of technologies and Internet various monitoring systems became part of our everyday life. Total surveillance of all the aspects of social, economis, private life became possible. Everybody can become an object of surveillance with further public accessibility to the private and intimate. Nobody is protected.
This situation lies at the root of paranoid psychosis that penetrates a considerable part of our society.
In the enclosed space of prison a woman is always in the position of being watched, deprived of physical and even supposed possibility to be alone. Years long state of complete nudity and loss of intimate space cripples personality put in the society as merciless as the cruelty of crimes she committed.
In the project I don't concentrate on the details of the convicted women's everyday life. It is more important for me to show their gaze trying to isolate themselves, faces and gestures changed by constant watch by the public authorities and cellmates. Details of the private and the intimate, brought out forcedly to the public view and judgement.

“A real subjection is born mechanically from a fictitious relation [...] He who is subjected to a field of visibility, and who knows it, assumes responsibility for the constraints of power; he makes them play spontaneously upon himself; he inscribed in himself the power relation in which he simultaneously plays both roles; he becomes the principle of his own subjection.” 

― Michel Foucault, Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison

anosova.com


Tatiana Vinogradova. Days of Melancholy 

This series of portraits is focused on the life of gay people in Russia. It is a visual tale of melancholy, loneliness and uncertainty about the future.
In Russia the level of intolerance toward homosexuality has been rising sharply. A 2013 survey found that 74% of Russians said homosexuality should not be accepted by society. 16% of Russians surveyed said that gay people should be isolated from society, 22% said they should be forced to undergo treatment, and 5% said homosexuals should be “liquidated". In June 2013 the national parliament unanimously adopted a nationwide law banning "propaganda” -  the promotion of homosexuality to minors. Under the statute it is effectively illegal to hold any gay pride events, speak in defense of gay rights, or say that gay relationships are equal to heterosexual relationships.
This reality has driven the gay community underground, to the shadows. In Russia only 1% of the gay population dares to live openly. That is why the general mood in my work is dark and melancholic. The visual concept mirrors the idea that being gay in Russia is not a rainbow colored life. In our country rainbows have some very somber shades.

www.tatianavinogradova.com


Mikhail Domozhilov. Ultras

This is a documentary photo-project, dedicated to St.-Petersburg FC Zenit ultras. ultras are highly organized faithful fans, notable for emotional and showy support of their team on both home and away games. Zenit ultras are considered to be one of the best on ex-USSR territory. 

Project was shot in 2010, significant year as for Russian football in the whole, so for Zenit in particular. St.-Petersburg team became Champions of Russian Premier League, Zenit ultras celebrated their thirty-year-anniversary of their existence, Russia got the right for holding 2018 Football World Cup and the end of the year was marked with football fans' participation in mass nationalistic public rallies in several cities which led to the meeting of prime minister Putin V.V. with main Russian ultras-movements' leaders.

domozhilov.com