I’ll take you away

EDITION

2023, Shortlisted

school

The School of Modern Photography Docdocdoc, Russia

links

@marindous

After the outbreak of war in Ukraine, along with the growing disagreement of Russians with the political regime and their desire to leave the homeland, the number of marriages has increased. In 2022, 130 thousand more couples got married than in 2021. The total exceeded one million registered marriages for the first time since 2015. Simplification of bureaucratic red tape was one of them, but not the only reason. If one of the spouses relocates to another country, the other one can apply for family reunification. This option is not possible if the couple’s relationship is not legalized. For people in a relationship, it has become a big problem to relocate together because of possible difficulties with getting visas and residence permits. To simplify emigration, some couples decided to get married. That decision was due to several reasons. The next reason was fear of mobilization. Men who didn’t support the war and didn’t want to go to war were forced to leave their homeland. Sometimes their departure was so quick that they didn’t have time to pack. The last but not the least reason was the need for support and a sense of security in such hard historic period. The project “I’ll take you away” consists of some portraits of newlyweds who, after the outbreak of the war, decided to get married and emigrate together. The couples are photographed in their wedding outfit against the background of the Russian landscape. They are separated from it by a black photo backdrop, which symbolizes their future break with the Motherland. Some of the heroes have already left the country, some are collecting documents and preparing for the upcoming emigration.