SACRAE ESSENCE 2

Lia Mstislavskaya was born in 1985 in Russia and still lives in Moscow today. Her first photos at age 17 were self-portraits taken with the sole purpose of “having headshots like the stars,” she says. At the beginning, being a photographer didn’t even cross her mind: “When I started taking pictures, the world of photography and art were inaccessible to someone like me,” she explains on her Instagram account, “there was no Internet or Instagram back then.” She taught herself online, moving in underground circles and regularly publishing her photos on Instagram where her account @abolutlia has continued to grow, reaching 60,000 followers in 2020. She is known essentially for her portraits, most often of women: “My favorite subject is the timeless woman, strong and at the same time elegant, both mysterious and alluring,” she explains. Today she dreams of working with Cate Blanchett or Tilda Swinton. A very secretive and fiercely independent person, Lia Mstislavskaya likes to say that her photos are like a bar: “You always find cigarettes, wine and women there!”