Nadia Sablin

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Andrew C. Kovalev

Pavel Prokopchik

From the series Apashka

World Press Photo 2012

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"Apa" or "Apashka" in Kazakh language means - granny. That's how people address a shaman woman that is living in Ungurtas village, Kazakhstan. Ungurtas is located very close to Kirgyzian boarder, on the way from Almaty to Bishkek. Originally from Turkistan, Apa was told by the spirits to find a particular mountain. She found it 8 years ago made a temporary living space and started accepting pilgrims. Soon after pilgrims built a whole farm, made steps on the mountain, which is thought to have healing properties.

Apa is a sufi, she calls herself the last dervish of Kazakhstan. People come from other countries to visit her, Russia, Ukraine, White Russia and of course other cities in Kazakhstan. Some of the rituals she performs include slaying of a goat and pouring blood onto practically naked people. Or after killing an animal blood is smeared on to the face, hands and feet of people currently living at the farm.
Life at the farm is very basic. Every day starts with choirs, bringing water from the river, cleaning the stoves and putting new coal in it. Taking care of the goats and other animals. Women usually cook and take care of the dishes.
Once in a while Apa says that she got a command from the sprits and gives out personal or sometimes common assignments, which usually include visiting some holy place in the neighborhood or saying particular mantras.

Katerina Bodrunova

Anna Kharina

Platonov Pavel

Flickr

Andrey Ivanov-Eftimiopulos & Sasha Shikhova

Olga Kravets

From the series Grozny: Nine Cities

Daria Tuminas

 From the series Ivan and the Moon
 
"Ivan is the elder, he is 16.Andrey, nicknamed “Moon”, is the younger, 14 by now.Two brothers live in a far located village in the northern part of Russia. They differ from city teenagers a lot - have completely other moral values and fairy tale world inside: go hunting and fishing, know joiner's chisel, play with ghosts at abandoned places, do not want to move to a city, love nature (I have never heard from city boys words like: “Look! The sunset is so beautiful tonight!”)...Mature and childish at the same time. Naive and enigmatic.In this ongoing project I want to show the mysteriousness of these brothers world."

Nikita Pirogov

Nikita Pirogov was born in St. Petersburg in 1989. Since early childhood he has been involved in various aspects of art such as music, painting, dancing, theatre. While a student at the St. PetersburgTheatre Arts Academy in 2008-2010 he took up photography and literature and became interested in the Japanese dance theatre Butoh.

This multi-pronged approach makes his style full of associations from different art forms.
In 2010 he has been participating in exhibitions of young Russian photographers, organized by Fotodepartament in St. Peterburg, Yekaterinburg and Krasnoyarsk, Russia. In October and November 2010 he has received two first prizes for the portfolio reviews within the Months of Photography in Bratislava and in Vienna.
His work is published as portfolios in magazines such as Photography Monthly (Korea), Zoom (Russia), Eikon (Austria) and in 1000wordsmag.com

In 2011 Nikita will exhibit his work at the Galleri Image in Aarhus, Denmark, at the Month of Photography in Bratislava, Slovakia, at the Encontros da imagem festival in Braga, Portugal, as well as at some group exhibitions.