Cheryomushki

First edition of Cheryomushki by Nikolay Bakharev. First impression. Medium format hardback in new condition.

About

Nikolay Bakharev was born in the late 1940s in Soviet Siberia—a moment when artistic expression was strictly regulated. Orphaned at the age of four, he was placed in state care, where he first encountered photography after stumbling upon a plastic Smena camera.

In 1970, Bakharev was assigned to a job in a steel factory in Novokuznetsk, a Siberian city dominated by heavy industry. Soon after, he began working as a photographer for state-run Household Services, making official portraits in schools, factories, and public institutions.

Bakharev’s camera served as means of connection. “There must be a mutual relationship,” he said. “They need to understand that I am not watching my sitters—it’s as if I’m part of the picture… A picture should not be beautiful, but interesting, then you can find beauty. Beauty is in the human relationships that are formed.”