A Russian Photographer Gazes at Our Excessive Consumption

Daria Piskareva’s day job requires her to wake up early. It’s also given her the opportunity to see St Petersburg while it is half-asleep, delicate, and full of unlikely treasures. She splits her time between St Petersburg and Pikkolovo, a small village in the Leningrad oblast. “St Petersburg and I are a total match,” she says. “It’s enigmatic, frivolous, and fluid.”

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The objects she finds on her early walks inspired her series The Rudiment — Piskareva’s tribute to the relics of our recent past. “I found a broken TV in the middle of a field once, and it made me feel extremely sad. It’s strange to see objects of the past discarded so soon, as if time is passing quicker than before.”

In her still lives, Piskareva explores the correlations between the objects, drawing on a kaleidoscope of references from fashion editorials to art photography. She enjoys randomness but doesn’t like to overcomplicate her images. “Harmony is key,” she says. “Simple objects photograph best if paired with colour and shapes.”