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Punks not dead
Julia Lisnyak
Published on 07/08/13
I was a teenager in USSR, the country of communism, censorship and limits of all kinds.Today we live in a different country, but Russian society seem to be on a way of zero tolerance to any diversity. “Being a punk means pain and suffering”- says 17 year Old punk Lina. Well, I wouldn’t agree. Being punk means being young, and have internal freedom to express yourself.
I am a mother of two and I photograph punks. I have a lot of punk friends and I am fascinated by this subculture. Vivid and boldly brave, punks could have been my tribe when I was a teenager. It still came as a surprise when my 13 year old daughter has become punk for two years. She was immediately thrown away from her school and it took a while to find another one where they wouldn’t demand to ” put her looks in order”.
For the last few years I have been following the punk community in St.Petersburg. One would say that punks look the same everywhere, but in today’s Russia being different in any way takes a lot of courage. Unfortunately, recently St.Petersburg has become a center of this bigotry.