Anastasia Khoroshilova Moscow, Russia, b. 1978

Bezhin Lug (Bezhin Meadow) is the second major series produced by Anastasia Khoroshilova in her prolific career as a photographer. The series is comprised of portraits taken in the Russian countryside, a project to she returned in 2015-18. Bezhin Lug is inspired by writings and films produced about transitional moments of the past, present, and future of Russia. For this project, she states, “I simply wanted to make familiar and individually recognizable the faces of the people who have lived for generations in a special, often tragic dimension of the history and time of my country. I sought for at least a glimmer of human hope, honor and dignity.” Maxim and Katja is a photograph of two children standing on a hill covered in snow, overlooking a white landscape which almost blends in with the cloud-filled sky. The bottoms of the childen’s snow suits are dusted with snow, possibly from sledding; however, they have stopped what they are doing to have their portraits taken. They do not appear annoyed; they look straight on and wait for the moment to be over.