I Capture What It's Like For Students Of Color In A Small Russian Town (14 Pics)

Around twenty years ago international students started coming to Tambov to get higher education. At first, they were just a few and they drew a lot of attention. In the course of 20 years the number of students has significantly increased and now around 2,000 people from Africa and Maghreb countries enroll into local universities annually. They manage to intertwine with colored thread into a monochrome pattern of the local population, but integrating into the population of a small provincial town isn’t easy. So, what makes them different from the local population of the small Russian provincial town and are they at all different? What do they like and how do they live?

I photographed students in their rooms where they live in a dormitory. Sometimes I met them on the street, sometimes an already familiar student helped me get into the dormitory then I just knocked on all the doors in a row and talked to students. There were cases when already familiar students introduced me to their friends, this was the easiest way. Then they began to invite me to their parties, birthdays. But after publication in the Russian media, everything changed. I received a lot of negative feedback, clearly talking about the attitude of afro-american and arab people. Students received bad feedback from their professors, tutors, trainers, and this whole situation has turned into hell. Here are some portraits and their little stories.

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