POOL

This work shows the phenomenon of the famous Moscow open-air swimming pool “Chaika”. It is both a documentary story about a closed community (which not even all Moscow citizens know about or have been there), and at the same time it is an artistic visual project that looks like it was staged, but in fact it is a real people. The work itself is visually reminiscent of the American classic, pinup, but it is a documentary project about grandmothers in contemporary Moscow. The main audience of this pool are elderly people who became regular visitors of this place many decades ago. Now they are pensioners. And “Chaika” has become for them not just a pool, but a social space where they hang out and express themselves from day to day. The characters in the photos in the natural environment of “Chaika” begin to show themselves in such a way that the reader realizes - they are part of the “Moscow” majority, not some specific subculture. Their goals are practical and understandable - they swim to stay “afloat” in more than just a literal sense. The most striking aspect of this project is how deeply it reflects the photographer's view of the older generation and the desire to see, hear and un