Russia's corruption is the stuff of legend, and, despite the country leaving the "Wild East"-tag of the 1990s behind, still endemic.
Just last year Transparency International ranked it 33rd-most corrupt of 174 nations. That ranking puts Russia, one of the world's most important countries, on the same level as Kazakhstan, Iran, and Honduras.
This corruption effects people's daily life in countless ways, and that is exactly what photographer Misha Friedman wanted to look at it his new project, "Photo51 — Is Corruption in Russia's DNA?".
Friedman was born in Moldova, formerly part of the Soviet Union, and moved with his family to New York in the 1990s. After working for Doctors Without Borders in Darfur he began taking photographs, and last year received funding from the U.S.-based non-profit Institute of Modern Russia to spend six months documenting Russian corruption.
"Most people don’t acknowledge this, but corruption in Russia has become its own institution, upon which all other institutions run," Friedman writes in an introduction to the work.
"Without the patron-client transaction, business and education, police and military, medical and judicial operations, don’t happen. With time, it got so I couldn’t pass anything — a building, a traffic intersection, an abandoned farm — without becoming hyper alert to the way it embodied corruption’s creep into every organ of civic society. In a way, my sense of alertness was a mirror for the paranoia and arrogance that weaves corruption so thoroughly into the logistics of people’s daily lives."
Friedman's work is showing in New York at 287 Spring from February 15th, sponsored by the Institute of Modern Russia. We've included a selection of photos here with Friedman's own captions below.
Official projects often face allegations of cronyism and corruption.
"Crews working on the set of the Scarlet Sails, a traditional celebration in St. Petersburg marking the end of the school year in June. This famous event draws millions to its spectacular fireworks and numerous music concerts. For years, Scarlet Sails has been marred by allegations of cronyism and misuse of millions of public funds."
The country has largely failed to make itself suitable for disabled users.
"A wheelchair-bound amputee holds on for balance as he ascends an escalator. Moscow's metro system, like much of the country, is not equipped for access for disabled people. There are very few elevators in the system, and many stations lack ramps on the stairways. Most of the transfers between stations are connected only by stairs and, generally, at least one flight of stairs leads from street level to the Metro entrance."
Contrasts between luxury life and government clampdowns are rife.
"The window of a shop reflects a mobile jail, such that the store name, Vertu, looks like a license plate on the truck. Vertu sells luxury mobile phones, encrusted with diamonds or rubies, with golden or platinum cases and is quite popular among the country's elite. The mobile jail, an Ural truck, is used by riot police to lock up and transport anti-Putin demonstrators."
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