Translated material
Melancholy days
From the author
A series of portraits “Melancholy Days”, dedicated to gay community in Russia, is a visual story about melancholy, loneliness and uncertainty of the future.
Russian society has never been tolerance to gays, but in recent years the attitude to homosexuality has become especially intolerant. A study conducted in 2013 showed that 74% of the population in Russia believes: homosexuality should not be adopted by society. 16% of citizens offer to isolate gays from society, 22% insist on their compulsory treatment, and 5% - in general, on their “liquidation”.
It is not surprising that only 1% of gays in Russia lives openly, everyone else is forced to hide their sexual orientation. The existing reality makes the gay community remain in the shade. This explains the general mood of portraits - dark and melancholy. To be gay in Russia is not at all rosy, in our country the rainbow has gloomy colors.
The Melancholy Day project is the finalist of the New York Photo Festival, as well as International Photo Festival Leiden (Netherlands)