Born in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan but having grown up in Detroit, photographer Aleksey Kondratyev’s work is grounded in themes surrounding national identity. It’s a topic he is well-equipped to traverse thanks to his first-hand experience of cultural disparity — having moved from central Asia to one of the USA’s largest urban cities. His work often journeys unexpectedly from one place to another; in [2018], whilst working on a photographic series about national identity in Kazakhstan, Aleksey ended up meeting some local fishermen who were fishing through the ice on the River Ishin, covered in makeshift ‘tents’ (fashioned from plastic bags). His work rarely traverses a linear path: it’s this often unexpected trajectory that drew us to Aleksey’s work.
