Soviet photography was never short of originality, but the party line and propaganda drive had a habit of seeping through: staged happy faces, large construction sites, collective farmers, workers...
The work of the new generation of Russian photographers contains far more of the personal, more of the inner world; life and nature are probed and pondered from an aesthetically as well as environmentally minded perspective. Let's take a look at the most striking images created by 16 rising stars.
1. Igor Elukov. Burning from the Book of Wonders series, 2018-2019
Igor Elukov/PENNLAB Gallery
2. Daria Nazarova. All Stars from the Aloe series, 2020
Daria Nazarova/PENNLAB Gallery
3. Ilya Batrakov. From the Mountain series, 2010-2017
Ilya Batrakov/PENNLAB Gallery
4. Fyodor Konyukhov. From the Post-Moscow series, 2019
Fyodor Konyukhov/PENNLAB Gallery
5. Olga Vorobyova. Girl Who Used to Be, 2016-2018
Olga Vorobyova/PENNLAB Gallery
6. Nikita Pirogov. Lesha in Scarlet, Gold and Sky-blue from the Me and You series, 2015
Nikita Pirogov/PENNLAB Gallery
7. Alexander Nikolsky. From the Refraction series, 2015
Alexander Nikolsky/PENNLAB Gallery
8. Anya Miroshnichenko. From the Room series, 2019-2020
Anya Miroshnichenko/PENNLAB Gallery
9. Dasha Trofimova. From the Limb series, 2020
Dasha Trofimova/PENNLAB Gallery
10. Maria Kozhanova. Distant Thunder
Maria Kozhanova/PENNLAB Gallery
11. Olga Matveeva. Self-portrait #1, 2020
Olga Matveeva/PENNLAB Gallery
12. Alexander Veryovkin. Peering into the Post-Soviet, 2019
Alexander Veryovkin/PENNLAB Gallery
13. Max Romanenko. Volta, 2018
Max Romanenko/PENNLAB Gallery
14. Marina Istomina. Suffocation, 2019-2020
Marina Istomina/PENNLAB Gallery
15. Anastasia Bezrukova. Sanatorium, 2019
Anastasia Bezrukova/PENNLAB Gallery
16. Ira Rokka. #Me, 2017
Ira Rokka/PENNLAB Gallery
The Herbarium exhibition runs at the new PENNLAB Gallery from Feb. 24, 2021.