Keep the Cages Open Before You Leave

• Photographer
  Dmitry Khovanskiy

Personal photography project—self-published artist book—inspired by two novels of the famous Japanese writer, Nobel Prize Laureate Oe Kenzaburo. Edition in Russian, English, and Japanese. Zoo animals escaped from their confinement and went out to the streets. Animals are the masters of a new world order and nature reclaims its rights on the planet which has been long ago appropriated by human beings. This is not only fiction, but rather a warning and a guide for those who are ready for an enthusiastic, passionate, and often futile debate about politics, economy, environment, and demography. Ironically, instead of talking small we can slightly open every enclosure in zoos across the world. And after that—get back to the debates and idle talks waiting for a disaster to happen. Most of images are created using film and multiple exposure technique with subsequent scanning of negatives. The project—book and personal exhibition—was presented during the Photofestival “International Meetings of Photography”, Plovdiv, Bulgaria in 2017. Curators: Evgeny Berezner, Irina Chmyreva.

literary manager and photographer Born in 1984 in Moscow. Education: 2001–2006—Moscow Aviation Institute, mathematician-engineer. 2009–2012—Institute of Russian Theater, actor of drama and cinema. 2016–2017—Moscow Institute of Professional and Amateur Photography (at RUSS PRESS PHOTO agency), photojournalist. 2012–present—the literary manager and photographer in the Moscow Hermitage Theater. Currently live and work in Moscow.