Uncovered Project The Home I Lost, The Truth I Found

part of a reflection from Uncovered Part II: Body

I never set out to create Uncovered. I was just trying to survive.

But the more I tried to rebuild my life, the more I realized I wasn’t just searching for a new beginning - I was searching for myself. The idea for Uncovered first sparked when I left Russia and moved to USA in 2015. At first, it was just a passing thought, a faint pulse in the back of my mind. But by May 2017, something in me snapped into place - an undeniable hunger to create again, to reclaim a part of myself I thought was lost in translation. Two years of navigating a new world - struggling with a language that bent my tongue, fighting through the labyrinth of asylum paperwork, and watching doors close before I could even knock - pushed me to my limit.

My resume, once a symbol of my success, felt like an artifact from a past life. Back home, I had been the Executive Producer of a popular reality show, orchestrating makeovers and transformations. I had experience in marketing, graphic design, and fashion - industries where I had carved my name. But here? None of it seemed to matter. Job interviews felt like interrogations - every word clumsy, every achievement met with indifference. I left each one feeling smaller, like my past had been erased. My broken English was a weight around my ankles, dragging me down in an industry built on connections and charisma.

New York gave me something I had never fully embraced before - a space. The freedom to exist as a gay man.

That truth awakened a fire inside me - a desire to create something raw and personal. The vision wasn’t clear at first, but as I flipped through years of diary entries, I realized Uncovered had been waiting for me all along. This was never just about photography. It was about truth. The kind we run from, the kind we’re terrified to face, the kind that - once spoken - sets us free.

When Uncovered just began, I thought it was a photography project. But as time passed, I understood - it was something much deeper. I remember standing on a rooftop in New York, staring at the skyline, feeling completely invisible. I had fought so hard to get here - to escape, to rebuild - but for what? Who was I now?

That’s when I knew - Uncovered wasn’t about creating something new. It was about discovering what had been there all along. It was the process of peeling back layers, exposing the core of who I am.

This is who I am. This is my story. This is my truth.

And if nothing else, I hope it reminds you that yours - no matter how raw, messy, or painful - is worth uncovering too.

from Uncovered Part II: Body - the full story lives in its pages.