Pics of Russian Models with a Bear Misreported in Western Media

Images of two young Russian models and a brown bear were picked up by large Western web entities (Business Insider, Daily Mail, Huffington Post). The news agencies commentary involved discussions of animal rights and referred to the photos as part of an anti-hunting campaign. Photographer Olga Barantseva shot the photos, and denied that her intent was in any way related to animal activism.

Barantseva stated that the work was part of an art project. And, she added that the bear is not dangerous – his name is Stepan – and he is an experienced bear-actor, who has starred in several movies.

{ “img”: “/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/bear_01.jpg”, “text”: “Olga Barantseva” },
{ “img”: “/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/bear_02.jpg”, “text”: “Olga Barantseva” },
{ “img”: “/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/bear_03.jpg”, “text”: “Olga Barantseva” },
{ “img”: “/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/bear_04.jpg”, “text”: “Olga Barantseva” },
{ “img”: “/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/bear_05.jpg”, “text”: “Olga Barantseva” },
{ “img”: “/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/bear_06.jpg”, “text”: “Olga Barantseva” },
{ “img”: “/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/bear_07.jpg”, “text”: “Olga Barantseva” },
{ “img”: “/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/bear_08.jpg”, “text”: “Olga Barantseva” },
{ “img”: “/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/bear_09.jpg”, “text”: “Olga Barantseva” },
{ “img”: “/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/bear_10.jpg”, “text”: “Olga Barantseva” }

Barantseva made a video about the project.