instant yearbook

For my ongoing project “instant yearbook” I photograph the pupils of small village schools in the region of Mordovia, Russia. Village schools in Russia differ greatly from the schools located in cities, so this project started with my curiosity, with a wish to peek inside small, isolated places. But once I was there and met bright, exciting, rebellious young people, the project has become about them – about their faces, smiles, thoughts and fears. Some of the schools I’ve visited will be closed next year for the lack of students. So this project is also a try to create a yearbook of sorts for them. For the portraits I don’t ask children to strike some particular pose, they smile if they want to, though often they prefer to stay serious and look directly in the camera. I try to show them exactly as I found them – at their desks, reading the books, passing through the dark school corridors, turning to meet the gaze of a stranger.