Photo: © Sloava Mogutin.
Photo: © Sloava Mogutin.
Born in Siberia, Slava Mogutin left his family and moved to Moscow at the age of 14. A third-generation writer and self-taught journalist, Mogutin worked for independent newspapers, publishers, and radio stations, where he was hailed as one of the foremost voices of the post-Perestroika news journalism and the only openly gay personality in the Russian media.
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Using the press as his platform, Mogutin openly challenged the taboos against homosexuality in his native land, becoming the target for two highly publicised criminal vases that charged him with “malicious hooliganism with exceptional cynicism and extreme insolence.”
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In 1994, Mogutin attempted to officially register the first same-sex marriage in Russia with his then-partner, American artist Robert Filippini, making headlines around the world and fuelling persecution by authorities. A year later, at the age of 21, he was forced to flee and became the first Russian to be granted political asylum in the United States on the grounds of homophobic persecution.
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His arrival in New York launched a new chapter of his life centred in the visual arts. Using photography, Mogutin continued to challenge the status quo, introducing radical narratives that peeled back the veneer of polite society and respectability politics. With the 2006 publication of his first monograph, Lost Boys (powerHouse Books) Mogutin achieved global recognition for photographs that blurred the boundaries between sex and style, fusing the genres of nudes, portraiture, documentary, fetish, porn, fashion, and fine art into images that were as provocative as they were profound.
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Mogutin is an unstoppable force. On August 1, he will release Bros & Brosephines (powerHouse Books), a collection of 240 photographs from 17 professional and personal series made between 2000-2015. While some of the images were made on big-budget sets, others were done relying on the kindness of friends and strangers. As diverse as the styles and subjects are, the one thing they share in common is their commitment to the avant-garde.
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Mogutin gives us an exclusive look at the book and speaks about how art is the perfect catalyst for creativity and play, as well as a means to taking a stance and speaking truth to power.
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Read the Full Story at Dazed Digital
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Photo: © Sloava Mogutin.
Photo: © Sloava Mogutin.