2010; printed 2012

Lucia Resting

Nadia Sablin

Russian, born 1980

Nadia Sablin was born in Leningrad and moved to the United States when she was twelve. She grew up in Cleveland and later attended the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York, where she received a BFA in commercial photography. After serving in the Peace Corps in the Ukraine, Sablin went to Arizona State University to complete her MFA in photography. She currently lives and works in Brooklyn, dividing her time between New York and St. Petersburg, Russia.

This photograph is from an ambitious photography project called Alehovshchina: Two Sisters, in which Sablin she creates visual memories, essentially portraits of family and the past. The setting is Alehovshchina, a remote area in Russia where Sablin’s family has a rich history. Returning to Russia for the first time in 2008, Sablin collected stories and photographed her two aunts, Aleftina and Ludmila, in their daily routines, untouched by time. This interior shot has an elegant quality of light as well as an honesty and directness.

Among Sablin’s other photographic series is Together and Alone, which also relates to her interest in cultural identity and personal history. She has exhibited widely.