Portraits of dead Russians.

Stone-face #01: Vova Borkov

“For centuries, everyday existence in Russia was a strenuous battle for survival; the life of the common Russian was grueling, and worry became entrenched on their face as a permanent reflection of their hardship.”

– From the WikiHow-article “How to Understand a Russian Smile”

Stone-face #02: Petr Dmitrievich Govorunenko

Russians do supposedly smile – just not at strangers. Spending a vacation week in Moscow recently, that ocean of faces void of any emotion made me want to make a series of stony-faced Russian portraits. Seeing that there really wasn’t time for it – and that I don’t speak much Russian either – I choose not to, but turned instead to a different set of stone faces: those of proper stone.

These are photographs from the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow.

Novodevichy Cemetery #01

Stone-face #03: Daria Zinovievna Koroleva

Novodevichy Cemetery #02

Stone-face #04: Alexandr Ivanovič Kudrjašov

Novodevichy Cemetery #03

Stone-face #05: Nicanor Dmitrievich Zahvataev

Novodevichy Cemetery #04

Stone-face #06: Petrova Eustolia D. Gagarin

Stone-face #07: Aleksei Ivanovich Radzievskii

Novodevichy Cemetery #05

Stone-face #08: Gleb Nikanorovich Cherdantsev

Novodevichy Cemetery #06

Stone-face #09: Vladimir Leonidovich Govorov

Novodevichy Cemetery #07

Stone-face #10: Filipp Ivanovich Golikov

Novodevichy Cemetery #08