Ekaterina Demidova STRAWBERRY FIELDS

London, 2009

Ekaterina Demidova STRAWBERRY FIELDS

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The l i fe of these ch i ldren d idn’ t turn out the way they

wanted i t to. They a l l l i ve at Chi ldren’s Home in Obid imo,

Russ ia. Most of them fa l l in to a category of socia l orphans ,

ch i ldren who have been abandoned by the i r parents or

whose parents have lost the i r parenta l r ights. Many don’ t

have any re lat ives they know of. They are ch i ldren whose

natura l r ight to be wi th the fami ly has been taken away

by the i r own parents. In many cases l i v ing condi t ions

at ch i ldren’s homes are far bet ter than at the i r parents ’

houses. However, not many of them wi l l be able to socia l ize

af ter l i v ing in such an iso lated env i ronment. The fee l ing of

so l i tude and f rust rat ion that they carr y is hard to bear. They

are no one’s ch i ldren and yet they have the st rongest wi l l

to surv ive in modern society.

Th is book is a documentat ion o f these ch i ld ren ’s exper ience

at a summer camp. I t i s a v isua l journey th rough the i r da i l y

l i fe act i v i t ies that revea ls an in t imate re la t ionsh ip between

ch i ld ren and env i ronment they l i ve in .

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* ch i ld ren par t ic ipated in the pro ject

A lexander Soko ln ikov

Timur To la rdava

N ik i ta Demidov

Mar ia Antonenkova

I l yas Yakubov

D iego Fer ra r i

Dan ie la S i l va

Mar ia Vare la

Stamatou la Vou lgar i

Joseph Dr isco l l

Debb ie Cast ro

Cami la Pere i ra

Tanya

Nastya

Sveta

Va lya

L iuda

Tanya Y.

D iana

Zhanna

Sasha

Vanya

Ser iozha

Dima

Sasha T.

Anton

Va le ra

Thanks to all who helped to make this project possible:

*

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Ch i ld w i th a ch i ld pre tend ing

Weary o f l ies you ’ re send ing home

So you s ign a l l the papers in the fami l y name

You’ re sad and you ’ re sor r y, but youre not ashamed

L i t t le green, have a happy end ing. . .

f rom a song L i t t le green

by Jon i M i tche l l

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to my parents

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Va lya

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dr y ing c lo thes

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a handmade vase

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camp lane

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Sasha s leep ing

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socks

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on the way to the f ie ld

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g i r ls ’ bedroom

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Anton

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a s i len t hour

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L iuda and Vanya

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boys p lay ing

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outs ide the canteen

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a f rog

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footba l l

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outs ide the k i tchen

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a lavator y

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a f te r a shower

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ser v ing d inner

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in the morn ing

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break fast

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a mole

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h id ing

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a quar re l

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wash ing c lo thes

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launderet te

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Nastya

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a c lean ing day

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a shower

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Ser iozha w i th f lowers

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© 2009 for photographs and texts: Ekater ina Demidova

Al l r ights reserved. No par t o f th is book may bereproduced wi thout the wr i t ten permiss ion of the ar t is t .

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Ekaterina Demidova

Born in 1983, Moscow, Russia.

Currently lives and works in London, UK.

Growing up in an artistic environment encouraged her to

engage with art and photography since a young age.

Ekaterina moved to London in 2005 after completing her

degree in linguistics at Moscow University of Foreign

Languages. She took a postgraduate degree in Fine Art

from Byam Shaw School of Art /University of the Arts

London/ where she explored various forms of art such as

performance and installation. However, photography

remained her main field of interest. Being interested

in documentary photography and photojournalism she

continued her journey at the University of Westminster

undertaking a masters degree in photojournalism.

Ekaterina’s works are for the most part based on issues

related to social aspects such as youth, ageing, and

cultural identity.

www.welikephotography.com

demidova.photo@gmail.com

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OBiDiMO special (rehabilitation) Orphanage-School for orphans

and children without parental care.

Address: Ulitsa Sovetskaya 2a,

Obidimo, Leninski district, Tula region.

Telephone: 8-4867-9-01-00

Director: Tolardava Timur Nodarovich

www.detinashi.ru

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