“Polite fish” is a phe­nomenon and an attrib­ute often met in Asian cul­ture– a situ­ation when two abso­lute oppos­ites are forced to inter­act and in that forced inter­ac­tion show both utmost polite­ness and act with extreme cau­tion.
Russian-Chineese bor­der extends for over 4000 kilometers.

Elena Anosova spent 2 months liv­ing and work­ing in three Rus­sian female penal colon­ies, explor­ing the inner world of the inmates based on her own child­hood exper­i­ences of liv­ing in a closed rehab­il­it­a­tion school. The res­ult is a strik­ing series called ‘Sec­tion’ that reveals how being in con­fine­ment and under con­stant sur­veil­lance dis­fig­ures and trau­mat­ize a person.

Due to its extreme north­erly loc­a­tion Mur­mansk exper­i­ences an annual 40-day long polar night from 3 Decem­ber to 11 Janu­ary. Dur­ing this period, when the sun remains con­stantly below the hori­zon, a semi-twilight occurs each day for only a few hours around noon. For the rest of the time, the city is wrapped up in darkness.

RUSSIA’S ONLY GULAG MUSEUM WILL NOW HONOR THE AUTHORITIES, NOT VICTIMS OF THE GULAG ANYMORE

Driv­ing up to the Bar­ents sea­shore feels like head­ing to the middle of nowhere. Iron­ic­ally, in winter the drive is much smoother and twice faster — flattened snow com­pensates 40 km of unpaved road.

“Fath­ers” is a visual per­form­ance by Rus­sian artist Maria Ionova-Gribina that explores how Rus­sian men identify them­selves through par­ent­ing. Child­less young men are invited to be pho­to­graphed without being informed about the theme.