Anna Skladmann

1991

This series of portraits depicts the generation of young people born in the year of 1991 in Russia. It is the exploration of a society that has been born in the same year as the fall of communism and today celebrates their 20th Anniversary. Through the eyes of this generation this project touches on the historical impact on Russia’s daily lives today, the extreme contrasts between generations and what they have lived through. The generation of 1991 grew up amidst a vacuum of values: The values of the Soviet time were not valid anymore, but no new ones have taken their place. Another characteristic trait of this generation are the great social differences around them: The system change made few people successful and rich and left many stranded. This projects shows the different ways in which the Russians of 91 tried to cope with the chaos in which they grew up. Social networks, such as vkontakte.ru were used to enable the search for people in this particular birth year and put us in touch with many characters of this projects: girls from Chechnya, right-wing thinkers from Lubertsy, orthodox seminarists in Sergiyev Possad and many more.

Interviews: Moritz Gathman.