Artist Statement

I was born in Leningrad, Soviet Union, a city and country that no longer exist. The names changed after I left, the substance too. After growing up and getting a photo degree in the US, I went back. Not to St. Petersburg, and not to Russia—the legality of that was complicated. I found myself in Ukraine, in a small town where the Old World still existed. There is a sculpture garden where cows and goats pasture. People get water from wells. Traveling circus and zoo is a high form of entertainment. I took pictures for two years. The faces, the expressions of the people I encountered made me feel like I was in a fairy tale, a place Other Than. I tried to capture them as they were: old, dignified, magical.