‘Tatar girls are very shy and have something to be proud of’

Hundreds of portraits are not enough

Natalia, how did the project appear? How did you come to such a curious format?

The idea came to my mind when I was about to finish a photo institute. I was thinking about to start a project that I would dedicate all my life to. I wanted the project reflect all this ethnic and cultural diversity of the world.

I was in search of a format that would be easily perceived by a spectator and simple for work. Initially, I had an idea of the creation of photo pictures that could carry some elements connected with a culture: colours, ornaments, some symbolic extracts from architecture or other cultural movements of this ethnicity. But I gave up this idea because one picture would take one year due to the search of experts and consultations with specialists, etc. So we chose girls' portrait photos and interviews with them.

When did you start shooting?

We started to take first photos and make interviews in 2012. But the first year was likely to be a preparation because we did not have any rules of the work. For example, we did not have three generations. Let me explain myself: a girl is to know her three generations in order to be able to participate in our project. It is also important her ancestors have the same ethnicity she wants to represent.

As time went by, we had to modify the questions to interview the girls because I was not sure whether they were able to answer quite difficult questions about self-identification. To tell the truth, I was afraid they would not utter a word in front of the camera at the first. Actually I made a pleasant discovery for myself: despite their young age, girls can know many things about their ethnicity.

'I wanted the project reflect all this ethnic and cultural diversity of the world.' Photo: vk.com

Where else is your project represented except the official page, social networks and video hostings?

In general, our goal is a maximum public coverage. At this stage we don't have many portraits – they total about 100. But it is not enough. We usually organise both thematic exhibitions and show the whole project. For example, we exhibit regions or language groups – Turkic, Caucasian or Russian ethnicities. Probably we will organise a very big exhibition of all ethnicities of the world one day. It will be the pinnacle, of course. Apart from it, we are interested in the attraction of TV channels, both Russian and French channels. A maximum media coverage is our goal.

I cannot help but ask you about the financing source of the project.

Unfortunately, we have not had any constant financing source yet. We are aspiring to it. At the same time it is important for us to remain independent because we are simultaneously developing a self-financing. If we manage to cooperate with TV channels, it will give us an opportunity to be self-standing. We admit co-financing as charity or patronage. Sponsor is a well known term. I think it won't suit us.

'Blood test is not an indicator. Ethnicity and belonging are more complicated things'

Natalia, why ethnicities in your project are represented by women only?

I think it is the simplest and the most obvious way to represent an ethnicity. They might be men, women, old people, children, different categories. But what is the best way of delivering these nuances, features typical of an ethnicity?

For instance, a child's features have not been formed yet. I don't mean these features are not seen after 30. Anyway, there is a difference between an 18-year-old girl and a 40-year-old woman. Why did not we choose men? In the beginning, we came to this conclusion instinctively that was explained by many things. Woman's face better expresses an ethnicity in physical terms. Basically, men have coarser face features. When you are working on a project whose name includes a word 'beauty', it is tricky to use this principle to choose men's faces. They must be very young men.

'As time went by, we had to modify the questions to interview the girls because I was not sure whether they were able to answer quite difficult questions about self-identification.' Photo: vk.com

So I was in favour of choosing young girls who have a pleasant and photogenic appearance without any cosmetics. Taking portrait photos, we exclude any cosmetics at all to show an ethnicity. Emotions caused by a pure woman's face are completely different. If a nice young man looks at you from a portrait… Anyway, a man provokes other emotions.

How do you manage to find representatives of an ethnicity?

Social networks and cooperation with different youth or student organisations in different cities help us here. If we want a rare ethnicity, we look for it in an entity that would help us. We also form a waiting list in some cities because there is no point in visiting a city where nobody is waiting for you. You won't look for girls on the street. This is why we prepare a site before we come there for casting. The work is carried out via mass media and announcements.

For instance, we have a kind of waiting list for our next trip to Russia: about 100 girls, who have already been chosen at a distance, are potentially waiting for us. As for the 'verification' of an ethnicity, a principle of 'three generations', which I mentioned, helps us here. In general, a person's identity is what cannot be denied. If a person considers himself or herself as a representative of a specific ethnicity, he or she, parents, grandparents, great-grandparents do have this identity. There is no sense in arguing. Blood test is not an indicator. Ethnicity and belonging are more complicated things.

Tatar girl had to go from Ulyanovsk to Paris to participate in the project

There are Tatar girls among the portraits you published. We wonder why one of them was from Bashkiria and the other – from Ulyanovsk, not from Tatarstan?

Yes, one Tatar girl – Renata – was from Bashkiria. We have shot a video with Dilyara recently who is from Ulyanovsk District. By the way, Dilyara even managed to visit us in Paris. We try to represent an ethnicity by three girls. They are to come from different cities, ideally, from different countries, that's to say, with different stories and different past.

By the way, the third place has not been occupied. We are looking for a Tatar girl. But we would like to find her in Tatarstan. I hope we will be able to visit Tatarstan thanks to this project. We would be very pleased to cooperate with Kazan because I'm sure we will find a great number of representatives of different ethnicities there, not only Tatar girls.

'Taking portrait photos, we exclude any cosmetics at all to show an ethnicity.' Photo: lesoriginesdelabeaute.com

In general, we don't have any priorities while choosing a city or a country. Sometimes we find representatives of very rare ethnicities than representatives of dominant ethnicities. In particular, I always put an example that we still can't show French girls, in spite of being based in Paris. The problem is that girls who have no experience in comparing with other cultures even if they live in a multi-ethnic country are not able to tell what being a French girl is like or what the specifics of the French mentality are.

The problem is not that we can't find a French girl who would have three generations from France. The thing is that she is not able to express her point of view… We face a pause that takes an interview. They often repeat some clichés, stereotypes they hear from foreigners about themselves. Only those people who not only have travelled but also have lived in another country whose culture is different from France has their own opinion.

Let's return to our Tatar girls. What characteristic did stick in your mind? In your opinion, what is their difference from other girls?

Personally, I changed my opinion about their appearance after the shootings. Despite the fact that I had Tatar friends, only during the work in the project I discovered how different the Tatar people's appearance was from a stereotype that stems from the 'Mongol and Tatar raids'.

Probably I'm lucky to be able to meet such interesting girls who make a good impression. But it is difficult to say something about Renata and Dilyara except positive and kind things. I also would like to note their shyness. It is the first thing that comes to mind when people speak about the specifics of Tatar girls. But even in very Renata's work shyness is not a merit. Earlier she took part in The Voice, then she wanted to participate in our project. They are very shy girls and actually have something to be proud of.

There is an opinion that Russian girls are the most beautiful ones. What is your opinion?

As for the girls from Russia, their number is huge. Probably people meet more beautiful girls. This is why there is a stereotype that Russia has much beauty. Actually I don't agree with this opinion. The concept of beauty can be interpreted in different ways. You can see it in our project. A specific portrait may not seem to be very bright to somebody. But having watched her video where she is a good narrator, the spectator starts to think she is the most beautiful girl. There is such a paradox of perception. Generally speaking, I ascertain beauty is present in absolutely all ethnicities, peoples. And we are trying to illustrate it by all means.

Natalia, could you tell us what ethnicities you are going to work with in the short run?

We receive offers from different regions. Dagestan and Novosibirsk are the most proximate plan. In fact, we pay great attention to small ethnicities because their number reduces every year. I don't mean only their reduction as extinction but a loss of self-consciousness. Often a girl's origin suits us, but she says she is not able to tell about her ethnicity because she knows nothing about her culture.