While studying
at the Rodchenko
Moscow School of Photography and Multimedia,
I was selected to participate
with students
from the International Center
of Photography (ICP) in New York.
In this project led by the renowned
American photographer and journalist
Ed Kashi we traveled to orphanages
and rehabilitation centers across Russia.
Each of us met our own hero
whose story we wanted
to exhibit in Moscow and New York.
I met Stas It the center
for disabled children in Korolev.
An extraordinarily kind,
smart, and talented boy,
he comes from a large family
but has never seen his parents.
They abandoned their children
and lived on the streets.
Stas was born
with only one leg
and a deformed hand and nose.
He suffered a lot,
he was wise and mature
beyond his years.
He could answer
the most difficult questions –
the kind
many adults do not even dare to ask.
His bright eyes contained
incredible wisdom and maturity.
After overcoming so many trials,
he became a shining light to others,
greeting every new day with hope.
After spending just a few days
with the children,
we felt as if
we were seeing the world through new eyes.
At the end of the project,
we exhibited it at the International Center of Photography in New York
and at the Multimedia Art Museum, Moscow.
Captured and shared that feeling –
their pain and the light
they found
by overcoming
any physical or external obstacles,
so that others one day
could feel and see it too.