Prepare yourself to be blown away by this week’s featured Photographer, Anka Zhuravleva… We have posted images taken from her “Distorted Gravity” collection, together with a short bio – All for you to feast your eyes on and learn what it takes to become a true and innovative Photographer!
About Anka and her career as a Photographer…
ANKA ZHURAVLEVA ( BORN ANNA BELOVA )
Anka was born on December 4, 1980. She spent her childhood with books on art and her mother’s drawing tools, covering acres of paper with her drawings. In 1997, she entered the Moscow Architectural Institute deciding to follow in her mother’s footsteps. But at the end of 1997, her mother was diagnosed with cancer and died in less than a year. Then her father died in 1999.
After that, Anka’s life changed dramatically. In an attempt to keep sane, she plunged into an alternative lifestyle working as a tattoo artist, singing in a rock band, sometimes looking for escape in alcohol. In order to make a living while studying, Anka worked at several modelling agencies. Thanks to the drawing lessons she wasn’t afraid to pose nude, and her photos appeared in the Playboy and XXL magazines and at the Playboy 1999 photo exhibition. But she was not looking for a modelling career, it was just a way to make some money.
In 2001 Anka was working in the post-production department at the Mosfilm Studios; That same winter one of her colleagues invited her to spend a weekend in Saint-Petersburg with his friend, composer, and musician Alexander Zhuravlev. In less than a month, Anka said farewell to Moscow, her friends, her Mosfilm career and moved in with Alexander in Saint-Petersburg. Living with her loved one healed her soul, and she regained the urge for painting. She made several graphic works and ventured into other areas of visual arts. In 2002 Gavriil Lubnin, the famous painter and her husband’s friend showed her the oil painting technique, which she experimented with for the following several years. During that period, she made just a few works because each one required unleashing of a serious emotional charge. All those paintings are different as if created by different people.
Anka’s first exhibition took place on a local TV channel live on the air – the studio was decorated with her works.
Several exhibitions followed.
Private collections in Russia and abroad feature her paintings and sketches.
In 2006, Anka noticed that her inspiration often came from photos and decided to take up photography.
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