Posts Tagged "nyc"
Russia-NYC Photo Series 5
I first noticed Karin on the streets of Volgograd thanks to his bright orange hat. Then I noticed his "New York 1986" shirt. He said he was from the former Soviet Republic of Tajikistan, an unstable country bordering Afghanistan. Like many if his countrymen, he had come to Russia to work due to low salaries, few jobs at home. He said he was working on a construction site for the summer in Volgograd (former Stalingrad).
Russia-NYC Photo Series 3
A portrait of the young girl from the Russian Arctic peninsula of Yamal sporting her "I ❤️NY" winter hat.
Russia-NYC Photo Series 2
These girls are Khanti, one of the native Siberian ethnic groups, and they live on Yamal peninsula, a slither of Russia on the Arctic circle that is the gas equivalent of Saudi Arabia. These girls were attending a local annual festival and were dressed in ethnic clothing...except for their hats. The one on the left is wearing a winter cap with the words: "I ❤️ NY."
Russia-NYC Photo Series 1
I am kicking off my Russia photo project with the oldest person I found wearing NYC-labeled clothing. I was walking through the beat-up outdoor market in Elista, the capital of Kalmykia, a Russian region that borders the Caspian Sea, when I saw these gentlemen. The guy on the left was wearing a baseball cap with Brooklyn written on it and I stopped to chat with him and his friend. He said he was a mechanical engineer and had traveled around the former Soviet Union on various projects. He said he was was approaching 80yo, while his friend, seated next to him, was past 80. The seated man on the right said he ran a kiosk at the market, but that times were tough. "There are no jobs, no wages, no factories. All the young people are leaving for Moscow or other cities." Kalmykia, a Buddhist region with Mongol roots, lies in the steppe, making it suitable for livestock breeding but not for manufactoring, ect, explaining in part why many leave seeking employment elsewhere. The 80yo guy on the right is holding what appears to be a man-bag, which had been popular in Russia some years back.
Russia-NYC Photo Series
One August summer evening last year, I walked 30 minutes from my Moscow office, through Red Square, to my apartment. During that stroll, I saw 4 people wearing shirts with the world Brooklyn, my home town. Thereafter, I paid a bit more attention to what people in Russia were wearing and was surprised how many people wear something with NYC/Brooklyn theme. I took a series of 50+ photos of random people around Russia with such NYC-labeled clothing over the past few monghs....not to prove that Russians like NYC (though many do)....Rather, I saw it as a way to tell stories about Russia - which many friends in NYC don't know well - through everyday people connected only by the NYC-themed clothing. There is no political angle to this series. I managed to get people in six different Russian cities, from north to south to east, from 15yo to 80yo. I will post about a dozen or so of my favourites ones from the series and hope to continue the project over the coming months. It's a great way to connect with complete strangers in this fascinating country.
