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Nailya Alexander Gallery is pleased to announce "Ambiguous Desires," a solo exhibition by St. Petersburg photographer Evgeny Mokhorev (b. 1967). The opening reception will be held on September 16th, 6-8pm.

Mokhorev was the first Russian photographer who opened a door to the fragile and troubled world of children. Since the late 1980s, he has passionately explored the marginal territories of adolescence, revelations of lost childhood, and magical transformations into adulthood. Over the years, he has developed a unique style that continues to inspire many photographers and followers. His first solo exhibition outside of his homeland was in Paris in 1992, right after the collapse of the Soviet Union. It was held within the framework of Mois de la Photo à Paris Photography Festival where he became a sensation, one of the key photographers to emerge from the former Soviet Union. His series "Games Children Play" about orphans and street kids of St. Petersburg attracted tremendous attention. In the US, it was shown in "Changing Reality" at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, in 1991; at the MIT Museum in "Russian Photographers Renewal and Metamorphosis from the late Soviet Era to the 1990s," Cambridge, MA; and in "Russia: Chronicles of Change" at the Southeast Museum of Photography, Daytona Beach, FL, both in 1996.

"Ambiguous Desires" considers an age of discovering one's sensuality, a mysterious metamorphosis from childhood into adolescence. Known for its social crises and emotional tempests, it is also a period when the tacit becomes explicit, when what is recognized becomes understood. Mokhorev possesses a special portal allowing him to enter the complex universe of pubescent youth, and to capture the wonder of innocence and unfamiliar longings expressed by his models. The growth of human understanding and sexual awareness in a teenager is one of the most intricate, amazing, and beautiful phenomena in nature. The exhibition features some twenty-five gelatin silver prints from 1999-2008.

Evgeny Mokhorev is a member of the Union of Photo Artists since 1992 and of the Russian Union of Artists since 1997. In 1993 Mokhorev won a "Discovery of the Year" prize at the First All-Russian Photography Festival. In both 1994 and 1998 he received a prestigious State Stipend for talented artists. Among other collections Mokhorev's photographs are part of The Brooklyn Museum of Art, NYC; Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, OH; The Russian State Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia; The Moscow House of Photography, Moscow, Russia; and The Southeast Museum of Photography, Daytona Beach, FL.