When asked why he seeks life’s unpleasant side, Russian photographer Dmitry Markov replies, “because I am part of it.”

On Saturday, an exhibition featuring 60 of Markov’s photographs will open at the agnès b. gallery and boutique in New York. #DRAFT #RUSSIA is an “unflinching” documentation of daily life in the Russian province of Pskov that “weaves a narrative of human vulnerability, addiction, candor, and pathos,” writes agnès b. in a statement.

In addition to his work as a photographer, shot exclusively on his iPhone, Markov (b. 1982) has worked as a reporter for the Russian newspaper Argumenty i Factywhere where many of his articles were devoted to social issues and youth problems. He has also volunteered in the Pskov region at a boarding school for mentally disabled children, and as a tutor in the “children’s village” Fedkovo there. With over 360,000 followers on Instagram, Markov posts images of himself and others, producing a long-form chronicle of his quest to find his place in the world.

The exhibition statement from agnès b. compares Markov’s images to the work of photographers like Nan Goldin, Ryan McGinley, and Richard Billingham, artists who draw on their personal lives, their friends, and the subcultures around them.

Markov’s photographs are striking for their openness and lack of moralization on a complicated topic – the lives of people who, for various reasons, have found themselves overboard, those who are usually called marginal. “This project is from there, from Russia’s collective past with its common joys and troubles. We could all be in the place of the heroes” we see in Markov’s images, writes agnès b.

#DRAFT #RUSSIA
By Dmitry Markov
agnès b.
April 6 – June 4, 2019

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