Trending Now - Daughter Finds Box With 30,000 Never-Before-Seen Negatives In Attic, Her Jaw Drops When She Develops Them
Some artists don’t live long enough to experience the recognition they get. Masha Ivashintsova was one of them. This Russian artist and theater critic had been heavily engaged in the Leningrad (now, Saint Petersburg) poetic and photography underground movement of the 1960−80s. Masha loved photography as it always took a major role in her mysterious and painful life. However, she always kept her photographs hidden in her attic, never showing them even to her family. Until now.
Recently, her daughter Asya Ivashintsova-Melkumyan was going through her stuff and found a stunning collection of more than 30,000 images. After deciding to develop these photos, Asya was shocked to discover how well these photos portrayed her mother’s life and the essence of everyday life in the USSR.
“Of course, I knew that my mother was taking pictures all along. What was striking is that she never shared her works with anyone, not even her family.” – Asya said of her mother’s work. “She hoarded her photo-films in the attic and rarely developed them, so nobody was ever able to appreciate the fruits of her passion. Those same films remained in the attic of our house in Pushkin, Saint Petersburg, where she originally kept them, after her death in 2000.”
The darker period of Masha’s life took place in a USSR mental hospital. There, she was gradually broken by being forced to take drugs. The Soviet Regime was aiming to ‘standardize’ people, to make them live by the Communist rules. This dehumanizing control system had a huge impact on Masha. It is also evident in her work. As her daughter says, “Masha had a difficult relationship with communism. She was eventually bulldozed by the party and committed to a mental hospital against her will for her «social sponging» as she could never assimilate to the all-encompassing, shouting world of socialist excitement.”
Some people have already called Masha the ‘Russian Vivian Maier.’ Scroll down to check her work and let us know if you agree with the nickname.
More info: mashaivashintsova.com (h/t demilked)
Melvar Melkumyan with his and Mahsa’s only daughter, Asya, Moscow, USSR, 1976
Image credits: Masha Ivashintsova
Two girls in Vologda, USSR, 1979
Image credits: Masha Ivashintsova
Masha Ivashintsova with her lover, photographer Boris Smelov, Leningrad, USSR, 1974
Image credits: Masha Ivashintsova
Masha’s lover Viktor Krivulin, Novolukoml, Byelorussian SSR, 1979
Image credits: Masha Ivashintsova
Nevsky Prospekt, Leningrad, USSR, 1975
Image credits: Masha Ivashintsova
Melvar Melkumyan, Moscow, USSR, 1983
Image credits: Masha Ivashintsova
Leningrad, USSR, 1977
Image credits: Masha Ivashintsova
Asya and her dog Marta, Leningrad, USSR, 1980
Image credits: Masha Ivashintsova
Toy store “Detsky Mir”, Dzerzhinsky Square, Moscow, USSR, 1983
Image credits: Masha Ivashintsova
Leningrad, USSR, 1981
Image credits: Masha Ivashintsova
Melvar Melkumyan, Moscow, USSR, 1979
Image credits: Masha Ivashintsova
Leningrad, USSR, 1976
Image credits: Masha Ivashintsova
Tbilisi, 1989
Image credits: Masha Ivashintsova
Boris Smelov, Sankt-Peterburg, Russia, 1993
Image credits: Masha Ivashintsova
Leningrad, USSR, 1978
Image credits: Masha Ivashintsova
Marta, Leningrad, USSR, 1978
Image credits: Masha Ivashintsova
The banks of the Neva River in Leningrad, 1979
Image credits: Masha Ivashintsova
Village near Lake Sevan, Armenia, 1976
Image credits: Masha Ivashintsova
Leningrad, USSR
Image credits: Masha Ivashintsova
Leningrad, USSR, 1975
Image credits: Masha Ivashintsova
A ruined statue of Stalin in Leningrad, USSR, 1978
Image credits: Masha Ivashintsova
Street portrait in St. Petersburg, 1976
Image credits: Masha Ivashintsova
A cosmonaut-themed playground in Leningrad
Image credits: Masha Ivashintsova
Inside the building
Image credits: Masha Ivashintsova
Boys
Image credits: Masha Ivashintsova
Leningrad, USSR, 1985
Image credits: Masha Ivashintsova
A portrait photo of Asya in 1978
Image credits: Masha Ivashintsova
A crowd on the outskirts of a May Day parade in Leningrad, 1979
Image credits: Masha Ivashintsova
Pixie-faced boys in Staraya Russa
Image credits: Masha Ivashintsova
Portrait of a family friend in 1974
Image credits: Masha Ivashintsova
Carpathians, Ukranian SSR, 1976
Image credits: Masha Ivashintsova
Linguist Melvar Melkumyan, husband and father, Leningrad, USSR, 1976
Image credits: Masha Ivashintsova
Arseny Tarkovsky, Leningrad, USSR, 1981
Image credits: Masha Ivashintsova
Nevsky Prospekt, Leningrad, USSR, 1976
Image credits: Masha Ivashintsova
Tbilisi, 1989
Image credits: Masha Ivashintsova
Nevsky Prospekt, Leningrad, USSR, 1976
Image credits: Masha Ivashintsova
Pushkinskie Gory, Pskov Oblast, 1976
Image credits: Masha Ivashintsova
Orehovo, Leningrad, USSR, 1976
Image credits: Masha Ivashintsova
Leningrad, USSR, 1975
Image credits: Masha Ivashintsova
Pushkinskiye Gory, Pskov Oblast, 1976
Image credits: Masha Ivashintsova
