Boogie - Moscow - 2018

These are people formed by a brutal and concrete landscape, fighting to survive. It’s a world of hooligans, gang tattoos, boxing… But it isn’t voyeurism of misery: there is an inherent vitality to the violence – the lasting tenacity – of these images. There is dynamism, there is esprit de corps, there is strength.

“Raw” is a term perhaps overused, but Boogie’s photos really assault the senses. Yet the gaze cast by the photographer is directly reflected by his subjects, and an undeniable relationship and intimacy are felt by the viewer. We witness something, especially something crucially human.

From the photographer behind “It’s All Good” (Miss Rosen Editions/PowerHouse Books 2006/2016), “Boogie” (PowerHouse, 2007), and “Belgrade Belongs to Me” (PowerHouse Books, 2008) comes a new urban, industrial, yet deeply human collection. You cannot look away.