Irina Popova

My Own Wilderness competition winner Irina Popova is a current artist resident at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam, and recently presented an exhibition at the annual Open Studio event held each year at the prestigious art academy. The photography of Irina Popova moves on the border between art and documentary. From her background in journalism Popova increasingly uses different media to tell her stories. She grew up during the post-Soviet era and the rapid succession of changes in Russia are a great source of inspiration. Popova has a keen eye on the fringes of society: immigrants, refugees, homeless and drug addicts. "By examining life through my camera, I try to show things that other people just pass by every day." For her latest project, Popova traveled to Morocco, where she wondered why the Arab Spring has left the country untouched. Her project is titled Narocco. A video of her unique installation is presented below, along with these photographs from the exhibit.

Images by Irina Popova  from the series Narocco

Irina Popova's work was selected as one of the winners of this year's My Own Wilderness competition sponsored by PHOTO/arts Magazine. You can see more of her work and an essay she wrote reporting on the current trends in Russian photography in a previous post by clicking the link below.

Irina Popova on PHOTO/arts Magazine

Irina Popova at The Rijksakademie