Marusia Makhmutova: flamboyant photographer and collage artist

Afisha.London magazine continues its column, which tells about inspiring people in the arts, their creative path and works. The heroine of this article is Marusia Makhmutova, an independent photographer and collage artist from Moscow, who has already conquered domestic and international magazines with her works.

Marusia Makhmutova is a photographer and collage artist. At her 26, she has already worked with GQ, Glamor, Hello, Esquire and other magazines. Marusia’s photos are published on Vogue Italy website and in international online magazines, for example, in Marie Claire Italy, because she is present simultaneously in the Moscow and world art space.

The photographer also collaborates with many popular musicians, bloggers and other famous persons, creating music album covers, promotional materials and other content for them.

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Marusia finds inspiration for her work in the photo-constructivism of Alexander Rodchenko and the photo-glamour of Peter Lindbergh, Tarkovsky’s Mirror and science fiction films of Christopher Nolan. To some, this mixture will seem explosive or, in any case, strange. But, as you know, the younger generation has a simpler view. The main thing is that the artist should have drive, power and originality, while “isms” are the business of boring classifiers. Therefore, it seems quite logical that Makhmutova’s favorite artists are Dali, Banksy and Warhol.

Olga Confederate, Associate Professor of the Department of History of Russia and Foreign Countries, Candidate of Cultural Studies, notes:

“In her work, Marusia Makhmutova can be aggressive and restrained, glamorous in the best traditions of Richard Avedon and shocking in the spirit of Erwin Olaf. She loves collage, as if photography alone is not enough for her to express herself. And these daring collages, also built on the conflict of complementary colors — blue-orange, purple-red-yellow — suddenly begin to shine serenely and joyfully, like stained-glass windows in a Gothic cathedral.”

In one of her photo series, Marusia harmoniously combines black and white photographs taken thirty years ago by her father during a round-the-world trip on the Druzhba sailing ship with images of her peers and favorite models. Girls cheerfully enter the serious and thoughtful world of the lyrical photographer of the 90s without destroying it.

It is impossible not to notice that in her photographic portraits Makhmutova conveys the whole gamut of a female being: from half-childish vague expectations of happiness to a bewitching heyday, from fears, insults, disasters to new ups of beauty and happiness.

Cover photo: Marusia Makhmutova

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