Do not call Dmitry Markov’s iPhone photos ‘seamy’

Each of the 80 arresting iPhone images in an exhibition entitled #DRAFT #RUSSIA are a chapter in the life of the photographer Dmitry Markov.

The pictures may feel like a hard, unpleasant view of a fringe existence in a Russian province far removed from the economic bustle of Moscow, but Markov makes no apology.

“It is sad to hear people say that I capture the seamy side,” Markov said about the photos exhibited through June 4 at the agnés b. Galerie Boutique in New York City. “I don’t see anything horrible in these pictures of mine.

“They are my personal encounters and scenes. Every added picture is another chapter in my own history. And when I get asked why I go after ‘life’s unpleasant side,’ I reply, ‘because I am a part of it.'”

Dmitry Markov brings the unseen into focus

Markov is a social worker, photographer, and journalist who uses an iPhone to document life in Pskov and shares the pictures with more than 346,000 followers on Instagram.

He has won numerous awards for his work, including receiving the Getty Images Instagram Grant in 2015. His pictures have been exhibited in shows from Paris to France.

agnés b. is a French company with Galerie Boutiques in Paris, Marseille, Tokyo, and New York. The Galerie Boutiques often showcase some of the best photographers in the world, from Nan Goldin to Ryan McGinley.

“(Markov) stares at the world, trying to find his own place and by the strength of the images, he succeeds to take us on board with his story,” agnés b. wrote in promoting the exhibit. “He looks at them as he looks at himself, with no condescension and no moral judgment… Only a lonely man can, with his fascinating day-by-day pictures posted on Instagram can create such a long-term self-portrait search for himself through the presence of others.”

The exhibit is in conjunction with the release of his second book, Cut Off published by Iikki Books.