Dreamin’ Irkutsk
Photos: Julia Sellmann
A fast car, a big family, a candyfloss unicorn, a wishing well – Irkutsk is not only defined by its past or its present but also by the dreams and aims of its residents. Julia Sellmann’s portraits and interviews explore what people of different ages and social backgrounds dream of.
Julia, 19, Journalist
»My dream, maybe… I don’t have any great dreams like going all around the world or such. I just want to live well in Irkutsk, have a family, have an opportunity to travel and I just wish everything goes well.«
Alexander, 26, Dancer
It is an interesting question if I have a dream. At one period of my life, at the sixth year of medical school, I started to dance in the streets of Irkutsk, I listened to music in big headphones and I couldn’t help but dance. I did it for several months, for half a year or so. And people started to notice me, even journalists. At the very time I was invited to organize a mass event. We organized a flashmob dedicated to Irkutsk’s Town Day, its 355th anniversary. We gathered several hundred people in the center, danced in the pouring rain and smiled from ear to ear – it was great!
That was the very breaking point when I realized: I want to do it! This is what makes my eyes glow. This is where I got to without noticicing it. but this is where I was meant to get. And now I know for sure that my dream is to unite one million people with music
With the music to unite these people and make it so that they are all-out happy and glad to the full right at that moment of time. Because there are various moments in our lives: people travel, read books, make love, simply do what they like to do and have different levels of satisfaction. And I personally get just unreal satisfaction while listening to favourite music, while dancing. And my dream is that one million people gets that level of happiness. It may be cliched, but I believe that it will be so and I’ll do everything that depends on me.
Milana, 24, Teacher
Roma, 20, Student
»I’d love to go to Finland. I admired its beauty, its nature, it cannot be compared with anything else.«
Rinat, 21, Student
Aleksei, 21, Student
Daria, 25, PR Manager
Artur, 13, Pupil
Svetlana, 16, Pupil
Julia