ENTRY DESCRIPTION
Black Swan inspired shoot. The wings have been digitally incorporated into the image using Photoshop.

AUTHOR
A Russian-American Photographer, Darya Ryan, was born in Magadan, Russia (Siberia). A former GULAG territory, this region had always had a charged dissident culture, where many questioned history and government agendas. But even after Perestroika (and eventual Soviet Union collapse), which finally allowed previously underground art to flourish in the open, Darya had to see the world for herself. She booked a one-way ticket to the United States, and arrived in Los Angeles with only fifty dollars in her pocket. With help from friends and Scholarships she was able to get a Bachelor’s degree from CSUS and was later accepted into the graduate program in Art History at UC Davis. Though always artistically inclined, the defining impetus towards Photography came during her travels throughout Europe and visits to other countries. Work found in the museums of Picasso, Frida Kahlo’s Blue House, and Cairo illuminated and centralized Darya’s artistic focus into exploring the human form and the politics of the body across cultures. Darya now resides in northern California, and is an award-winning artist whose work has been published in ICON, NorCal, Editorial CQ Magazine, Morningstar, National Geographic, Social Documentary Network, and the Edge of Humanity Magazine.

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