Natasha Shulte’s solo show captures vulnerability of post-Soviet orphans

Ukranian artist Natasha Shulte’s portraits of orphans convey all the vulnerability of young children in state care. A new solo exhibition of Shulte’s photographs at Moscow’s pop/off/art gallery, Resignation, couldn’t be more timely given Russia’s tough stance on foreign adoptions. In 2012, the government passed a law banning adoption by American families. This was followed up by a ban on adoption by single parents in countries where gay marriage is legal.

Set against this backdrop, in a country with more than half a million registered orphans, Shulte’s photos take on a meaning beyond that intended by the artist. Her photos show unemotional children living in spartan conditions with foreign views pointing to their isolation from urban civilisation. Shulte’s photos have a painterly quality to them, which blurs the line between dream and reality, the natural and the supernatural, and the beautiful and the ugly. The exhibition is in Moscow until 1 December before it travels to Odessa and Milan.