Artist Statement
Anna Chobotova (b. 1979, Karelia, Russia) is an artist and photographer.
In her projects, she explores space as a carrier of memory and traces of time. Her way of seeing space is shaped by her experience of growing up in Karelia.
She works with photography, collage, drawing, and artist’s books.
In 2025, she was included in the list of 100 best photographers in the “Leica 100 Years” project. Her artist’s leporello book Moth was presented at the NIZINA art fair at the Museum of Moscow (2024) and entered the project’s library collection. Her collages have been featured in the “Niches” festival (ARBUZZ Gallery) and published by the Paris Collage Collective.
She holds an MA in Arts and Cultural Management from the University of Manchester.
Artist Statement
I work with everyday spaces where little happens, but a sense of time and human presence remains. I am interested in silence, pauses, and traces of life within the environment.
My practice is based on observation. I focus not on events, but on how space retains their memory. This is where human condition becomes visible within space.
I work with photography, collage, drawing, and artist’s books.
My perception is shaped by living in Karelia, where attention to silence and slow environmental changes has formed my way of seeing.
Personal exhibitions
2022
“Walking in Paris”, MBU TO “KUZMOLOVSKAYA DSHI"/Saint Petersburg
2015
“Disappearing Shadows”, Karelian State Philharmonic/Petrozavodsk
2012
“Letters from childhood”, Fotonerds Gallery,/Joensuu, Finland
2011
“In the Land of Angels”, Karelian State Philharmonic/Petrozavodsk “Sensuality”, Gallery “Grain"/ Petrozavodsk
2010
“In the Land of the AnnaKids”, Puppet Theater of the Republic of Karelia/Petrozavodsk
2009
“Moulin Rouge: The Mirror” /Petrozavodsk
Group exhibitions:
2025
“Interference Field” installation, Art Garden Gallery, Saint Petersburg
2024
the collage exhibition of the Parisian collage club Earth Dance/ Paris
the collage exhibition PHOTOPLAY
'Rezh da Klej' fest “Nichese”, Moscow, ARBUZZ Gallerymuseum of Moscow.
Mobile shelf of zines and photo books of the Nizina project.
Pilot project of Zines and the author’s book “Paper Stories” , Petrozavodsk
2020
“Breaking the Kalevala Codes” Russian Center for Science and Culture, Helsinki +Estonia+Lithuania+ Budapest
2019
“Opening the Kalevala codes”, Museum of Fine Arts of the Republic of Karelia/ Petrozavodsk
2017
Monocle, a photo exhibition based on the results of the All-Russian photo contest dedicated to the monocle lens/ K. A. Timiryazev Library
2011
“Author-time”, Industrial History Gallery/Petrozavodsk
2010
“The time of the day.OnegaTraktorny LOFT project, Cultural Initiative Center/ Petrozavodsk
Interview
Education
2026
Yulia Pavlova’s “Project Photography” course, “Photography Genres from a 21st-Century Perspective. Project Thinking” course by Ekaterina Vasilyeva.
2025
Yulia Pavlova Memorial Laboratory
2008-2024
Author’s courses, master classes by leading Russian and foreign photographers (Studio Harcourt (Paris), Magnum Photos, Mark Fearnley (London), Leica Akademie: Alan Schaller, Alexander Medvedev, Andrey Chezhin, Igor Sakharov.
2006-2007
Academy of International Cooperation, international diploma with a degree in photography
2004 -2005
The University of Manchester, PHD in Cultural Management
1996-2001
Karelian State University Pedagogical University, Faculty of Foreign Languages (Finnish, English)
Exhibition posters
