7 rooms | Collection Co–selection

In his work, Rafał Milach pays special attention to the countries of the former Soviet bloc, especially as a founding member of the Sputnik Photos photographer collective. In 7 rooms he shows people who were born in the USSR, but grew up during the period of political transformation; people he got to know well during his his many visits to Russia and who eventually became his friends. This allowed him to create photographs that are clearly intimate in character.

The protagonist of one of the rooms is Vasya from a village near Yekaterinburg, the star of the local drag queen scene. In the series of photos we get to know his family and stage life, as well as friends and his surroundings over the course of six years. We meet his daughter; we see his stage incarnations as a female singer during concerts. In the photos showing his domestic activities, we observe how both his genders intertwine, revealing the everyday reality of him being trans.

Milach’s aim was capturing contemporary Russia and its transformations through showing the lives of particular people. Despite the social nature of the entire series, the photographs retain a unique reflective and personal character.