Your name
Natasha Lozinskaya
Place of birth
Vyatka, Russia
Place where you live now
Saint Petersburg, Russia
3 words to describe you
Whisper, dream, road
Why do you take pictures?
For me, photography is one of the most appropriate ways to tell a story. Stories, plots, characters, hypotheses, and questions surround us, swarming around us, drawing our attention to themselves. As a person, I notice them; as an artist, I want to share them with others. Photography allows us to peer into the gap between time and space, that’s why the stories told in photographs are so incredibly and frighteningly realistic. In this sense, photography seems to me the most magical medium.
Where do you get your inspiration?
It may seem strange, but I get inspiration from the news. At first glance, the online news feed is riddled with negativity and doesn't exactly encourage creativity, but that's a matter of perspective – I approach it analytically, observing changes happening in the world and around me, finding notes about unusual places and interesting people. Literature and cinema also often inspire me for new photo projects.
Who are your influences?
I really love photo projects of Alec Soth, Nanna Heitmann, and Tamas Dezsó – I love this "adventure" narrative and the road motif they use in their work, and I find it appealing in my photography, too. Among other contemporary photographers, I'm also inspired by Dylan Hausthor, Paulina Guilmoth, and Emilia Martin – they're also "magical" photographers. I can say that I'm greatly influenced by film directors – Tarkovsky, Wong Kar-wai, Jarmusch, Lanthimos and Ari Aster.
What determines the subject matter you choose?
Most often, it's something I've been thinking about for a long time. If a topic sticks with me, it's as if it chose me. But usually, it's connected to my personal background, current experiences, and contemporary events.
What impact would you like your art to have?
I'd like to tell stories from the Russian hinterland that no one has ever heard of – not even Russians. Amazingly, each story almost always contains a unifying element – a moment of recognition for people from all corners of the world. I think this is a secret ingredient, something akin to love, which transcends all events, times, and spaces.
What artwork do you never get bored with?
I love fairytale motifs in art – I'm sure they contain universal wisdom and ideas, complex in their simplicity. That's probably why I never get bored with the paintings of the Norwegian artist Theodor Kittelsen and the stories of Tove Jansson.
Is there anything you want to add?
I like observing how photography flexibly responds to changes in the world around us. In an age of accelerating time, the ability to slow down, look closely, and freeze a moving moment seems especially important – that's precisely what a photographic moment gives us – a kind of treasure.

Treasure Trove
Project statement

Vyatsky Krai (historical name of Kirov region) is an average region of Russia, a Russian hinterland where people’s relationship to place has not changed for centuries. The locals, remaining in the gap between past and future, are stuck in "timelessness" and, like heroes of Russian folk tales, are in an endless search for "treasures" – material and spiritual. Local mythology, religious traditions, beliefs and legends help them in their search.

I was born in Vyatka, moved away a long time ago, but continue to return there again and again. My search for Vyatka’s identity is a search for my own identity and eternal return to myself. Through metaphysical exploration and play, I determine the location of Vyatka in Russian culture and history and explore the belonging of a person to the collective past and present, which seems very fragile in difficult historical times. Vyatka is a cross section of the entire country, where people at the same time believe in the Orthodox God and the existence of yeti, see UFOs in the sky and attend church, remember old rituals and beliefs and invent new ones – everyone here is looking for their own “treasure” and an explanation for what is happening around them. Based on new and old myths, legends and traditions of the Vyatsky Krai, a visual guide to the mythical country of "timelessness", in which all residents of the Russian hinterland exist today, has been created.

natasha lozinskaya
@marka.polo