Russian photographer Alexandra Demenkova grew up in the rural town of Kingisepp, a 100km from St-Petersburg. Discovering photography in her late teens Demenkova graduated from the Faculty of Photojournalism in St. Petersburg in 2002. Working only with black and white film, Demenkova has created an idiosyncratic aesthetic that she uses to investigate the lives of those who reside in the remote regions of Russia and are considered “socially disturbed”. Demenkova said, “The experience of photographing made me think how fragile this world of relative stability created by our families is, how thin is the borderline between health, both mental and physical, and sickness; the normality of everyday life and misery; hope and despair; freedom and lifetime imprisonment”. Shot over a three-year period, Rural and Remote Russia spans a vast region like the country it documents, from the shores of the White Sea in Arkhangelsk Region to a remote village of Pokrova in Novosibirsk Region.
EXHIBITION
Rural and Remote Russia
Until 23 June 2013
The Muse Gallery
TAFE Ultimo
Harris Street
Ultimo Sydney
Australia
