Alexander Kargaltsev presents a series of nude portraits of Russian gay men who sought asylum in the United States. Curated by Ivan Savvine, 287 SPRING.

Alexander Kargaltsev?s photographic project ?Asylum? presented at 287 SPRING explores the lives of gay men who fled Russia for the United States due to the violence and hatred they have encountered in their motherland. Kargaltsev?s portraits project a striking expose of the dire situation of the LGBT community in Russia. They are arresting in their austerity and contain a poignant message of hope for a life free of fear in the New World. The artist succeeds in demonstrating the human side of the problem, in the face of the massive, painful and complex nature of the state-sponsored homophobia. The models, in their nakedness, reveal their courage in shedding many layers of fear, emerging from their harrowing past, bare and vulnerable, yet proud.