When I lived in Hiroshima, I wrote both a day trip column Tripping Out as well as an interview style column called On the Couch with... for the Outsider Magazine. One of the things I really enjoyed about On the Couch with... was being able connect with people and to hear their stories. Other people's stories can inspire us and give depth to our narratives.
Earlier this month, I returned to Oklahoma to spend time with my Mom. During a quiet evening, I was surfing the internet on my phone while my mom was catching up with a friend on hers. I'm not sure what search terms I used for Google's image search--perhaps beautiful photography or something similar, I was looking for images to inspire my own photography. As I was searching for images I came across this image. I was instantly compelled by the photo--the movement, composition, and storytelling resonated so profoundly, I felt I needed see more and know more about this photographer. I followed the link for the image which took me to Fine Art America, I discovered that I could purchase my own copy of this reasonably priced artwork. I clicked on the see more by this artist button and was transported into Anka Zhuravleva's amazing imagination. For the next 30 minutes, my mother had to put up with me saying : Look, look at this one. Oh, wow, now look at this one. I imagined my
apartment walls filled with her photos but I resisted the urge and instead I opted for a more useful tote bag with the promise that I will use her as inspiration, learn more about portraiture to create my own amazing images to adorn my walls. Although, I comforted myself by reserving the right to purchase for myself metal prints for special occasions like birthday, Christmas, vacuuming the floor, etc.
Then I became curious who was Anka Zhuravleva? After a little search I found she had a compelling story. (Note: Sources are listed below) Born in Moscow as Ana Belova on December 4, 1980. Anna's early influences came from her architect mother and at 17 she entered the Moscow Architectural Institute.
Within two short years Anka found her life turned upside down and adrift. She lost her mother to an aggressive cancer at 18 and a year later she found herself an orphan when her father died. At 19, Anka went into survival mode. She became a tattoo artist, rock band singer, and a model doing layouts for Playboy and XXL magazines. A few years later her path crossed with composer Alexander Zhuravlev and shortly afterwards she began to heal with the loving relationship. With a new marriage, a move to St. Petersburg, Anka began to explore her artistry again. First she experimented with oils, with her first exhibition taking place at a TV station, live on air. Then on 2006, she shifted her focus to photography. Currently, Anka and her husband live in Porto, Portugal.
Anka is self taught but remembers shooting photos of horses at an early age. As a photographer she explores both analog and digital as well as modern and vintage cameras. When shooting digital she spends quite a bit of time in processing to get the right mood and tone.
Over the past decade plus a few years, Anka has developed into a compelling artist of note. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Anka has a serious admirer in France based Romanian photographer, Alex Andresei. The suspected plagiarism came to light when Andresei's photo was shortlisted for the Sony World Photography Awards for the Enhanced Category in the 2017 competition. Although, Andresei defended his strikingly similar photograph and Sony accepted the defense--Andresei's photograph is still found on the Enhanced page of their website. Without knowing what materials Mr. Andersei submitted in his defense, in a side by side comparison, my verdict would be guilty.
Anka is working as a full-time photographer now gifting the world with beautiful photo stories that capture the imagination, teaching her craft to others, and traveling to places known and unknown. As Megan from magicandmusings.com says in the preface of her interview with Anka. Anka Zhuravleva is... the lovely Russian photographer ... whose work contains such a variety of styles and emotions, I can't help but feel inspired by it. Her artistic background is unlike any other I've ever encountered, and it's been an absolute pleasure to find out more about her. I couldn't agree more.
Sources: Interview with Anka Zhuravleva--magicandmusings.com
All About Photo interview with Anka Zuravleva
Anka Zuravleva Facebook page
Fineart.com Anka Zuravleva artwork
Anka zhuravleva website this link is to her temporary website as her real one ankazhuravleva.com is under construction.
Petapixle.com's article on the suspected plagiarism
and artnet.com's article on the suspected plagiarism