ALEX AVGUD: EXERCISES IN FREEDOM
Alex Avgud (b.1986, Russia) is a 2019 photography BA graduate from the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague. In his graduation series ‘Exercises in Freedom’, he explores social mechanisms of oppression and the possibilities of resistance particularly in relation to human sexuality. The series is based on his personal experiences of living as a gay teenager in Eastern Europe, as compared to his present live as an adult migrant in the West.
‘Exercises in Freedom’ encapsulates the onerous journey of a gay man shaped by the Russian coercive environment and his subsequent adjustment and transformation when immigrating to the Netherlands – a journey dismantling walls and building bridges instead.
Avgud worked with people who share his struggles — migrants, gays, or both — in order to erase boundaries between individual and collective emotions. The whole series is comprised of black and white male nudes. Additionally, the series includes diptychs where on one side there are white walls representing Dutch domestic environments whereas on the other, there are photos from Avgud’s archive showing Moscow in 2002. The diptychs, therefore, ultimately represent his own experience of existing in between these two worlds. Avgud’s ability to capture light and detail enables the viewer to visually encounter the emotional and psychological pain that is often connected to experiences of love and particularly, the ‘forbidden’ types of love.