Garages Are Our life: Teenagers Growing Up in a Series by Andrey Boyko

Andrey Boyko Age 26

Born and lives in Sumy, Ukraine. Studied industrial design at Sumy State University. Uses a reportage style in his photos and shoots with analog cameras. The “Garages” project has been on exhibition in Kiev, Dnepropetrovsk and Sumy.

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The “Garages” series is about young people from the provinces who aren’t looking for comfort in leisure, yet understand the sense in it. They build their own little world, their own casinos with blackjack and hookers. For them, the garage is a club, a tea room, a rehearsal space, a workshop, an exhibition space, a movie theater and a place to sleep just in case. Birthdays, weddings, and New Years are celebrated, plans are shared, music is consumed and muscles are built all in this place.

{"img":"/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Boyko_01.jpg", "text":"Irina, a flight attendant. Lines, light and red lipstick in a testosterone-filled, self-made underground gym."}

{"img":"/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Boyko_02.jpg", "text":"Maria is shy. If you are against religion and turn crosses into pentagrams, then it follows that you are anti-government and turn tridents upside down."}

{"img":"/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Boyko_04.jpg", "text":"Vlada rushes on stage faster than lighting against the crushing rhythms of heavy metal."}

{"img":"/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Boyko_05.jpg", "text":"Festivals in Odessa are filled with storylines and protagonists."}

{"img":"/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Boyko_06.jpg", "text":"Irina, a flight attendant. Lines, light and red lipstick in a testosterone-filled, self-made underground gym."}

"Garages" are about us; about me and my friends. This universal space became a second home for us. I took pictures of our so called era: growing up, when a person begins to understand and interact with the world. This is a dramatic period of time when a child becomes an individual and is enamored with the struggle against his or her parents and the aspiration to craft his or her own views and value system, which sometimes results in deviant behavior: acts of hooliganism, experimenting with alcohol and drugs, petty crime, street-fighting and first sexual experiences.

In my case, photography is my only way of communication with the world. I don’t put any hidden meanings in my projects because it isn’t worth it.

{"img":"/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Boyko_07.jpg", "text":"Vladislav likes chilling in the club, dressing fashionably and messing with all kinds of assholes."}

Maya - my first curator, fur coat, crosses and iPhone.

{"img":"/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Boyko_09.jpg", "text":"The local crazies represent a separate layer of anthropological research and literary interest."}

{"img":"/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Boyko_10.jpg", "text":"A family photo of Aleksandr, the neighborhood lightning rod and conceptual graffiti artist of post-apocalyptic equinox."}

{"img":"/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Boyko_11.jpg", "text":"A simple, Belorussian guy named Andrey (not me) on an expedition in Odessa."}

Marina, a French tips superstar. Today she’s as elegant as ever, though some glitter did get in her eyes and I was able to get backstage on the low.

{"img":"/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Boyko_13.jpg", "text":""}

{"img":"/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Boyko_14.jpg", "text":"Polina likes flowers, her mother and the theater."}

I will never be able to part from my camera and I take photos because I just can’t not do it. If we’re talking about aesthetics in my photos, we shouldn’t because there isn’t any; there are no rules and I do only what I like. I shoot with all kinds of different analog cameras and I don’t pay any special attention to composition. It’s either there or it isn’t, very simple. A little bit of “grime” adds to a moment’s spontaneity. The devil just grabs my camera and presses the shutter.

I shoot my friends and accidental passers-by. It’s often interior portrait photography under natural conditions when the camera, as they say, is handy and nearby. I take a lot of photos at concerts and while hitchhiking, and I love shooting in markets and in the streets, night and day, and sometimes even in a studio.

{"img":"/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Boyko_15.jpg", "text":"Vlad thinks that weapons make him look more masculine, and the guys from the garage unquestionably respect him."}

Polya takes romantic shots and also her friend Yaroslava.

{"img":"/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Boyko_17.jpg", "text":"They always cut off hot water in the city in the summer."}

{"img":"/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Boyko_18.jpg", "text":""}

{"img":"/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Boyko_19.jpg", "text":"Festivals in Odessa are filled with storylines and protagonists."}

{"img":"/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Boyko_20.jpg", "text":"Mormons, Adventists, Jehovahs, Protestants and other Slavic brothers."}

{"img":"/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Boyko_21.jpg", "text":"The local crazies represent a separate layer of anthropological research and literary interest."}

The local crazies represent a separate layer of anthropological research and literary interest.

{"img":"/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Boyko_23.jpg", "text":"The local crazies represent a separate layer of anthropological research and literary interest."}

{"img":"/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Boyko_24.jpg", "text":"Festivals in Odessa are filled with storylines and protagonists."}

{"img":"/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Boyko_25.jpg", "text":"Vitalina works on the “Valentina” apple plantation and adds vitamins to the most crisp ones."}

{"img":"/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Boyko_26.jpg", "text":"Katerina is a wonderful model and an unquestionably a cult director."}

{"img":"/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Boyko_27.jpg", "text":"Margo likes art directors, French and her modeling agency."}

Egor is a sneakerhead, a collector of rare models.

{"img":"/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Boyko_29.jpg", "text":"The wonderful Aleksandra in her father’s workshop. The topic of religion is very personal for me, as I spiritually stick to a moody, behavioral attitude against religion."}