Lesya KIM

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Lesya Kim is not a professional photographer. In fact, that’s one of the first things she makes a point of clarifying: “I’m not a professional photographer at all, even though street photography is my passion,” she says. Based in Tyumen, Siberia, she has been practicing street photography for about ten years, having trained at the Moscow School of Visual Arts (Maximishin program) and then at the Docdocdoc School in Saint Petersburg. A member of the iN-PUBLiC collective, she published a book in 2019 titled *Tobolsk*, named after the Siberian city where she has been photographing for many years. Her approach can be summed up in a few words: lots of color, a wide-angle lens she never puts down, and a penchant for the irony of everyday life. “I like to reveal something ironic or unusual in completely ordinary scenes,” she explains. In 2021, her series *Not Old Enough, Not Kids Anymore!*, a portrait of Siberian youth facing uncertainty, won the Storytelling Award at the Italian StreetPhoto Festival, presented by Magnum photographer Alex Majoli. Lesya Kim is not a professional photographer, but since 2020, her work has regularly won awards: Siena International Photo Awards, Italian Street Photography Festival, London Street Photography Festival, and Smithsonian Magazine.