I love the community that is here on the grams, I have been lucky to meet so many great people and @kate.gos is one of them for sure. Kate chatted about how she got started with photography and about what her childhood was like on a remote Russian island near Japan. We talked about human behavior and the tragedies many countries are facing right now including Ukraine. She shared with us some of the projects that she has in mind and some of her future plans for her practice. She is going to have an exhibition in Woodstock NY this August so give her a follow for updates on that. Thank you Kate it was really lovely talking with you. Here is a little more about Kate.
"I was born on Sakhalin Island in the Russian East, north of Japan. After graduating from high school and art school in my hometown Korsakov, I've traveled nine time zones to study at Moscow State University. I've got a degree in journalism and I was the first in my family who obtained a college degree. When I finished high school it was the 90s, and the Soviet Union had just collapsed, when I arrived in Moscow it was chaos and now I really wish I had chosen a different major. Anyway, 10 years later, after my University graduation, in 2012 I moved to NYC, another 8 time zones. As they say, America is the land of second chances, so I've decided it was now or never to pursue my artistic career, which seemed impossible in post-soviet Russia. I've started painting but pretty quickly realized how this world works in the US and my enthusiasm went down, until the day when a friend of mine introduced me to the Yashica 120G mat. That's it, my heart was stolen and till this very day, I love how every mechanical camera sounds and I became a photographer. I mean, it became my hobby. But I wanted more, so I went to study, then COVID happened, and the study got paused. My family and I had moved to Upstate NY and my dad with my husband built a darkroom for me, so I'm still here, stuck in Woodstock with my home studio, working basically in the woods.
Interesting fact - I never thought I would come back to my island, but ever since I stepped into the photography world I couldn't stop thinking about my homeland. And in 2019 I traveled there, 20 years later! Unfortunately, it was a brief trip, but I took some pictures and one of them won second prize in the international photo awards.
In December 2021 I started working on a project about the native population of my island - I was supposed to go in fall 2022 to shoot there for a month, but due to world events it's been canceled. Hopefully postponed till 2023. This is my goal now, as a photographer, I found a purpose - I want to depict "Nivkhs" - the dying nation of my land.
My inspiration - people and nature. My tool - medium format. I love alternative processing techniques - my latest skill - platinum palladium printing, it's a perfect combination of painting and photography, which gives me great joy! :)
I am currently working on a new project called "Wild Woman".
That is the reason why I can’t send you my latest work, it should be unseen."
Follow Kate at https://www.instagram.com/kate.gos/
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