"PAISANOS” (a person who shares one’s place of origin-compatriot)

When people travel or live in a country outside their native land, they often recognize their own countrymen in a single glance, sometimes without fully understanding what gave them away. For the last 10 years, I have been living in the United States. But even among the diverse American crowds, I always spot my own people, and with astonishing accuracy.

Growing up in one country and living in another, we hold certain archetypes deep inside our subconscious. We assemble these puzzle pieces of visual information and invisible indicators and use them to identify our own. It feels like superpower. Or maybe it is just an instinct that helps us find our own kind, implying a sense of safety in familiarity.

In this series, I am showcasing photographs taken in the exact moment I recognize my own people. For me, there is no anonymity in being a Russian. A walk, a pose, a look, a word, an item of clothing, or something else entirely — we never know what might give us away.

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