The young generation of photographers, who made their artistic debuts in the 1990s, turned away from the humanistic themes developed by their predecessors and began to look at everyday life through the prism of materiality and banality. In addition, female artists entered the almost exclusively male circle of photographers. This period marked a change in society, which was approaching the restoration of independence (the perestroika policy reforms, the intensifying resistance movement, mass rallies and demonstrations).
Photographers look at their surroundings with the eyes of people exhausted from the Soviet reality and constant regulation, without trying to hide that fatigue and frustration. Their gaze diverts to the simplest everyday objects. Self-perception in these works unfolds by extending the gaze to things which are infinitely close to us – so what if they are worn or crumpled? The depicted objects acquire a monumentality and symbolise an infinite longing for individuality. Longing for a place, space or time where you are free.