FEATURE
A ward winning photographer and creative
genius Kristina Varaksina sits soft spoken in
her cozy Park Slope, Brooklyn apartment
as I Facetime her. The hygge meets urban
minimalism design of her apartment in the
background proves her love of interior design.
As she starts to explain her background, she
states, “I started my art career by studying
interior and graphic design at Ural State
Academy of Architecture and Arts in my
hometown of Yekaterinburg, Russia.”
“Simultaneously I was
working part time as
a graphic designer,”
she elaborates, “after I
graduated, I began as
an art director at a small
advertising agency and
worked my way up to an
art director at Y&R Russia in
Moscow.”
When asked why she jumped into
photography she states, “I eventually realized
that I prefer field work over office jobs;
creating something immediately with my
own hands gives me the most satisfaction.”
Varaksina moved to San Francisco, California
on New Year’s Eve in 2010 to pursue her
Master of Fine Arts degree in photography
at Academy of Art University. Varaksina
has been practicing photography for over
sixteen years but has done so professionally
for six years since graduating.
Her favorite piece
“I’ve always been very she states is “A
intrigued with human special one, I did
many years ago
pshycology and it helps when I just started
me tell stories through the photography
MFA program, I
portraits.”
shot a self-portrait
with a typewriter”
which won first
The 37-year-old was born in Russia. “Growing prize in Academy of Arts yearly Spring Show
up in Russia, or Soviet Union back then, I read competition. Varaksina claims, “It gave me a
a lot of books because we didn’t have much
confidence boost and helped me really find
happening on TV,” she professes, “so I think
my style.” She describes her style as “ethereal,
that developed my imagination because
feminist and in touch with human emotion.”
images were appearing in my head as
“I’ve always been very intrigued with human
opposed to appearing on screen.”
psychology and it helps me tell stories
through portraits.”
Her background has had an immense impact
on her perspective and work. “I also think that Her highly sensitive and emotive photos
I looked up to many Russian women in my life often feature female subjects daintily posed.
who are incredibly strong, and I have several “I’m proud of my personal projects that raise
series in my personal work exploring female
awareness on different issues.” Her series
subjects.”
‘She Is in High School’ which was published
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LimeLight
in Vogue feature young women with
LimeLight
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