When Russian photographer Irina Popova exhibited her haunting photos of the dysfunctional family life of drug-addicted parents Lilya and Pasha and their two-year-old daughter, Anfisa, in 2012, they drew critical acclaim. Unsurprisingly, the images – which include troubling shots of the toddler surrounded by passed-out strangers at her parents regular house parties in St Petersburg, and leaning dangerously of a top-floor window – also attracted serious concern.
In a piece for lensculture.com, Popova wrote: “They were living in a darkness, mixing day and night, behind the thick curtains, descending to the street only to ask for some money for the cheap alcohol (they already couldn’t buy any drugs). Their daughter was with them all the time and she was looking at all this with wide-open eyes, tried to touch and to taste everything. They fed her with expensive artificial milk, dragged her away from dangerous things, changed her diapers and said, ‘Anfisa, stop. Anfisa, go to sleep!’
“Half a year ago Lilya left the family, and nobody knows where she is now. Pasha takes his daughter to the kindergarten and goes to some cheap-paid work. The girl can talk and seems to have normal development. She only has more serious eyes than all other children of her age. Pasha looks miserable and aggressive and doesn’t want to have any further contacts with people concerned about the future of this family.”
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