Anton Polyakov

Anton Polyakov (b. 1990, Tiraspol) is a freelance photographer, living and working in his birth city. The small town is the capital of Transnistria – the unrecognized Republic, legally part of Moldova but not actually controlled by it. Anton’s date of birth coincides with the date of establishment of the Republic which is located between Moldova and Ukraine and in political terms is considered Pro-Russian territory. He graduated from Transnistrian State University majoring in Geography. Anton is interested in the topic of historical and cultural memory in the region in which he resides, as well as younger generation of people who were born in the unrecognized republics after the collapse of the Soviet Union: the question of their personal identification, the influence of the uncertain status of the country and what they face in their daily lives. Since 2018, Anton has been working on the topic of masculinity. Using the example of Transnistria, he explores stereotypes associated with the image of men in post-Soviet countries and rethinks this image, creating new contexts.