Sergey Chilikov is a Russian photographer born in Kilemary, Mari Republic, in 1953. He started photographing in 1973, at a time in which the Soviet Union frowned upon the notion of photography being artwork. As a reaction, Chilikov distilled into his photography both his personal obsessions and absurd observations of the country he has been living in.

Chilikov's series of photographs bring us a different vision of Central Russia revealed through his encounters with people. The resulting images are staged in the most unlikely ways, and full of a characteristic dry visual humour. Locals pose in their villages simultaneously revealing and accentuating the austere surroundings. Occupiers of socialist flats pose nude amidst the outdated and garishly decorated interiors. These playful scenes often combine recurring erotic motives and dreamlike colour. Chilikov's Russia is a land unaltered by the drastic collapse of the Soviet Union and populated by characters that cross the line from the traditional to the sensual.