Nowhere and everywhere (2018)

This place doesn't exist in reality, but at the same time, it's everywhere. This place has no name, because it is not supposed to have it. This place is full of true Russian people, Russian places, Russian beauty, and Russian drama.

In my project I explore stereotypes about culture of russian villagers. Nowadays, a countryside is not so limited in terms of possibilities comparing to cities, although the image of it is still connected with a reality of the last century. What a «derevnya» looks like today?

To answer this question I went to one of the distant hamlets in Archangelsk region and posed for portraits with actors of the local theater. We wore costumes of characters of popular play there and visualized cliches about «russionness». With staged and documentary shots I tried to tell the story of the place, that is familiar for all Russians, but doesn't exist in reality.