Founder & Editor-In-Chief
Current
Remote
One evening in 2016, I started a digital community focused on the visual culture of the former U.S.S.R., my country of birth. I was eager to unearth trivial elements of Soviet people’s day-to-day existence, the ones that did not make it into the history books: a long-forgotten home music video, an awkward wedding photo, a leaflet, a questionable fashion choice. I began by collecting remnants of the Soviet era, rummaging through old VHS tapes, friends’ photo albums, magazine cutouts and obscure flea markets to gather visual artifacts from a country that was no more.Since then, the project has evolved into the internet's largest social archive in its niche, providing over 1.5 million followers across 3 platforms an opportunity to reflect critically on the social and cultural norms of the time. In 2017, we launched an affiliated e-commerce start-up, Stratonaut, working with artists and curators from Eastern Europe and Central Asia to create items inspired by the rich visual heritage of the Soviet era, as well as by modern culture. The business became profitable in its 1st year of existence, and new products are now released on a bi-monthly basis. In 2020, we signed a renewable 10,000 copy book deal with Bloomsbury Publishing. We worked together to release a hardcover book that that features a curated selection of images and stories, now available in all major bookstores around the world and online. In 2022, a collection of clothing items protesting the Russian invasion of Ukraine was released on Stratonaut in solidarity with anti-war protests in Russia and around the world.Soviet Visuals has been featured in The New York Times, Vogue, Financial Times, The Guardian, Public Radio International, The Moscow Times, RTVE Spain and various international media. From content narrative design to developing bespoke partnerships, the experience has been extremely rewarding and continues to be an incredible source of insight and learnings as the project evolves.
