Irina Popova, Russia

When mom and dad are under the influence of drugs, nobody looks after Anfisa. She leans out of the window of a shabby flat in St. Petersburg, Russia. Cigarettes are her only toys. The parents of the two-year-old girl are punks and have been together for five years. They steal food from the grocery store and beg for money on the streets. According to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, Anfisa has the right to a “healthy environment”. But who will assert such rights if the parents fail to do so?

Curriculum Vitae: Irina Popova

• 2008 Moscow Academy of Classic Photography, course “Street photography”, master Anton Gorbachev
• 2009 workshop “Social Portrait”, master Rena Effendy
• 2008-2009 other workshops and master-classes by U. Kozyrev, Pieter Ten Hoopen, Platon, Erica Larsen, A. Kostyukov, A. Chernov, A. Lapin, S. Pojarskaya, A. Kitaev, I. Muhin, A. Kuznetsov etc.
• Prizes and Awards
• 2008 Prize of Volga Biennale 2008 for photoproject “Derbejki. The Village on the Edge of the World”, Nijny Novgorod, Russia
• 2008 Prize of the contest “Without the Barriers” devoted to the problems of the disabled
• 2008 Samara, the gold medal of the Delphic Games of World, nomination “Photography”, for photoproject “Another family”, Moscow, Russia
• 2008 the gold medal of the Delphic Games of Russia, nomination “Photography”, for photoproject “Luli gypsies” , Novosibirsk, Russia
• 2007 the gold medal of the Delphic Games of Russia, nomination “Photography”, for photoproject “The Military Hospital”, Yaroslavl, Russia
• 2006 the gold medal of the Delphic Games of UIS, nomination “Photography”, for photoproject “The National Opera”, Astana, Kazakhstan
• 2006 Krasnoyarsk, the gold medal of the Delphic Games of Russia, nomination “Photography”, for photoproject “The Bikers”

Personal Photo exhibitions

• 2009 “Will the Russian Village Save?”, curator B. Mikhailov, The Art center of the Gorky Library, Tver, Russia
• 2008 “Another Family”, curator Oleg Klimov, Photodepartament, S.- Petersburg, Russia
• 2008 “A Place on the Earth”, Art-center Garage, Mendeleevo, Russia
• 2008 “The Heroines of a Western, Tver Officer House, Tver, Russia

Selected group exhibitions and photo festivals

• 2009 “The Pursuit of Happiness”, the Noorderlicht festival, Groningen, the Netherlands, curator Wim Melis
• 2009 The student exhibition of the Rodchenko Moscow School of Photography and Multimedia
• 2009 The group exhibition of the participants of “The private name”, Manej, S.-Petersburg
• 2008 The Young Photographers of Russia, photofestival, The History of Photography Museum, Nijniy Novgorod
• 2007 International Photo and Cinema Festival “Open Eyes” against racism and xenophobia, S.-Petersburg, Russia
• 2007 The Young Photographers of Russia, photofestival, The History of Photography Museum, Nijniy Novgorod, Russia
• 2007 Tver Region Photoexhibition

Photo expeditions

• 2007 Altay – Kazakhstan – Kirgizia
• 2008 the Caucasus: North Osetia – Ingushetia – Chechnya – Dagestan – Azerbaijan - Georgia. Work on the Georgian armed conflict in august 2008
• 2009 Cuba

Books

• 2008 I, Tokyo, Actes Sud (France), Apeiron (Greece), Dewi Lewis Publishing (Great Britain), Edition Braus (Germany), Lunwerg Editores (Spain), Mets & Schilt (The Netherlands) and Peliti Associati (Italy)
• 2004 Sabine, Politikens Forlag, Copenhagen, Denmark

Teaching experience

• 2009 Moscow Academy of Classic Photography
• 2009 Photospace, “The Lonely Hills” festival

Publications

• “The Petersburg Peak Hour” newspaper
• Magazines: “Russian Reporter”, “Ogoniok”, “Correspndent”, “The flight line”, “The theatre Petersburg”, “F”, “Foto&Video”, “The Sunday Times Magazine”

Works in collections

• Nijniy Novgorod, Russia, Russian museum of photography
• Krasnoyarsk, Russia, The museum of contemporary art
• S.-Petersburg, Russia, The State Russian Museum

popovaira(at)yandex.ru