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The Guardian

‘The only place nudity was tolerated': stripping off on Soviet beaches

Nikolay Bakharev was born in Siberia in the late 1940s, when artistic expression was strictly regulated. As the Soviet Union began to unravel in the early 1980s, he traveled to lake beaches, such as Cheryomushki, where workers and families gathered to relax. These beaches were among the few public spaces in the USSR where any form of nudity was tolerated. The intimate, unguarded portraits Bakharev took captured parents embracing their children, couples pressed close and friends drinking in the afternoon light. Cheryomushki is available to purchase through Stanley/Barker All the photographs in this series were taken on the beach. Most were intended for family albums and do not typically involve nudity. However, this particular image stands out for its openness – visible in the gaze, in the act of undressing in a public space, and in the somewhat staged modesty This photo was taken according to the standards of the popular magazine Soviet Photo in the 1970s. We see a representative family of the Soviet era, but at the same time the faces in the photo are somehow catchy and attractive 'Almost any image of a naked body was considered pornography, which was against the law,' says Bakharev of the prevailing mood in the USSR at that time An allusion to classic paintings of mother and child, this is a romanticised image of motherhood set against the backdrop of Soviet reality. The combination of classical composition and the resulting simplicity makes the image poetic and easy to grasp A photo on the theme of 'father and son', one of the storylines for this series. Oddly enough, the emotional energy comes from the child; the image of the father is rather formal This group of young beachgoers seems more interested in the process of photographing than in the result. For them, posing for the camera becomes a form of entertainment, sometimes revealing something greater than the situation itself A shy embrace and a staged kiss still cannot hide the warmth and sincerity of this relationship. There is a curious feeling that the couple has found a private moment – even though they are surrounded by crowds of curious beachgoers This photograph was commissioned for a family album, as a memento of time spent together at the beach. Despite the formal intent, the warmth and intimacy between the couple distinguish it from typical commissioned work. The image invites us to glimpse their relationship and feel a sense of connection to their bond Nikolay Bakharev was orphaned at the age of four. He was placed in state care, where he first encountered photography after stumbling upon a plastic Smena camera Bakharev's camera served as a means of connection. 'There must be a mutual relationship,' he said. 'They need to understand that I am not watching my sitters – it's as if I'm part of the picture. A picture should not be beautiful, but interesting, then you can find beauty. Beauty is in the human relationships that are formed'