Lyudmila Zinchenko

For a long time worked as a photographer in various editions — from the local newspaper “The Star (Zvezda)” to the metropolitan “Culture”. She made prints from the original negatives of the classics of Soviet photography. Now teaches this discipline at Rodchenko Moscow School of Photography and Multimedia. Awards: Silver Camera (2002, 2006, Moscow). Member of the Photographer.ru agency. Published in Kommersant, Newsweek (USA), Courrier International, Liberation, Le Figaro (France).

Raitsentr

In recent years alcoholism in Russia has become a national catastrophe. The problem is felt particu­larly keenly in the provinces, where there is little work and state support. Every year the number of deaths caused by alcohol rises, and the population of Russia is rapidly falling. Raitsentr is a Russian abbreviation for the words raiyonnii tsentr, which usually denotes a small city or village. Coincidentally the first part of this word, “rai,” means heaven or paradise. The project consists of 12 photos, and their focus is portraits of the Angels of the RAItsentr — alco­holics with blissful expressions and closed eyes, a town trailing off into the distance around them. The landscapes are dark, captured at nighttime, with white snow, blackness in the distance and paths leading off into the murk. The photos were shot in the village of Peno in the Tver region.