Artist
Bogdan Shirokov
Bogdan Shirokov is a photographer based in Moscow. The main topic of his visual research is contemporary masculinity and the way it manifests in Russian society, especially among the youth generation.
He is committed to capturing the inner world of his subjects as well as creating a recognisable visual language to reflect softness, power and vulnerability. Bodgan's work has been featured in international publications such as 032c, I-D, Highsnobiety and Vogue and exhibited in numerous galleries in Moscow.
Portfolio: Bogdan Shirokov
"The concept of masculinity in general is complicated all over the world - yes, in Russia it is also difficult. I grew up in a small town in Siberia, and nobody there even thought about what masculinity is. It’s time to talk about it.’’
Bogdan's projects are related to the study of his inner-self, the world around him, youth and maturation. In his work he tries to break established stereotypes about masculinity, in his country and all post-soviet regions. Framing characters of harsh appearance into something weightless and revealing in their sentimentality. Through various symbols and atmospheres in the frame, his subjects appear simultaneously in their outer environment and their own, dreamy reality.
Russia’s Marina Istomina and Poland’s Ada Zielińska both break from the conventions of what is known as disaster photography. After experiencing first hand the wildfires engulfing her native Siberia summer after summer, Istomina captures the crisis through a redemptive fairytale: warning us about greed, power, and
ultimately the tricksters of the woods. The daughter of a firefighter, Zielińska, too, is fascinated with fire, specifically what it means to be a witness to catas- trophe. For her ongoing series, Post-Tourism, she travelled to four places: California during the 2018-19 wildfires, Paris shortly after the 2019 Notre Dame fire, Venice during the 2019 flood, and Australia during the 2020 bushfires. The Polish artist doesn’t err on the side of caution, often playing the role of pyromaniac and using chaos and provocation as fuel in her practice.
Bogdan Shirokov trained his lens in fashion and editorial photography but has been working on what he calls a life-long personal project: looking at different facets of contemporary masculinity and queerness in Russia. For Shirokov, photography is first and foremost a type of refuge and a contemplative space for the viewer, one he physically expands with installation and sculpture.
Marat Dilman offers a glimpse into nation-building in his native Kazakhstan, from the showpiece architecture to the robots being developed at universities. As the country readies itself for grand plans and ambitious advancements, the photographer reveals the way that folklore finds itself among the nuts and bolts of futuristic constructions.
Past and present collide also in the work of Kincsõ Bede who interprets the stories passed down to her about communism. Less interested in the symbols from this time, Bede stages scenes and invents her own visual language to communicate the fears, desires, secrets, and paranoia which she inherited.