Mila Teshaieva (b. 1974) uses photography to understand driving forces for constructed societies from the point of view of a curious researcher. She is working passionately to go over and further develop the traditions of the long form of storytelling, and in so doing, to draw attention to her subject matter through new powerful, innovative and resourceful ways. Her work often combines in-depth scientific research with special esthetics and opens new layers for a viewer to reevaluate the mechanisms, which construct nations, modify memories and thus invisibly influence our being.
Since 2004 Mila has been engaged into long-term projects on the territories of former USSR, in particular, she dedicated many years working in the Caucasus and Caspian Sea region. This work has resulted in her first monograph Promising Waters that was published with Kehrer Verlag in 2013, and book “Faces and Stories of Entrepreneurs”, which she was commissioned and published by Swiss Development and Cooperation in 2015.
Mila’s work has received multiple distinctions for her work, among them 1st prize in NPPA Best of Photojournalism 2010, Critical Mass Book Award and PDN Photo Annual and appeared on the pages of Courier International, British Journal of Photography, Time Magazine Lightbox, among many others.
Her projects were exhibited internationally, with the most recent solo exhibitions in Museum Art of West Coast (Föhr 2016), Haggerty Museum of Art (USA 2015), Blue Sky Gallery (USA 2015) Photoquai Biennial 2015 and are kept in multiple public and private collections.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2018 Imagined Community in MIT Museum Boston
2017 InselWesen in Museum of European Cultures Berlin
2017 Promising Waters in Alma Lov Museum Sweden
2016 Die Insel at Museum Kunst der Westküste
2015 Promising Waters at Musee quai du Branly
2015 Promising Waters at Blue Sky Gallery Portland
2015 Promising Waters at Haggerty Museum of Art Milwaukee
2014 Promising Waters at Museum Kunst der West Küste, Föhr
2014 Beyond the Frame at Parliamentary Library Tbilisi
2013 Beyond the Frame at Kapellhaus Baku
2011 Kahriz Revival at French Cultural Institute Baku
2009 Buffer Zone at Gallery Bar Floreal, Visa/ANI Paris
2009 Buffer Zone at PHODAR Photography Biennial Sofia
2007 Uzbekistan at Gallery RA, Month of photography Kiev
2005 Bay of Bengal at Gallery Mystets, Month of Photography Kiev
GROUP EXHIBITIONS (selection)
2020 Unseen - Goethe Institute project in Kunststiftung Sachsen Anhalt
2019 Unseen - Goethe Institute project in Micamera Gallery Milan
2017 Promising Waters in Museum für Angewandte Kunst in Gera
2016 Promising Waters in Kunstfoyer Versicherungskammer München
2015 Promising Waters at Istanbul Photofestival
2014 Legacy at Side Gallery Newcastle UK
2012 Darmstadter Tage der Fotografie Germany
2011 Heidelberg Print Media Academy Germany
2011 Encontros da Imagem International Photography Festival Braga
2011 FOTO8 Summershow, Host Gallery London UK
2010 Vilnius International Photo Festival Lithuania
2009 Black and White, Gallery "Mykola" Kiev Ukraine
GRANTS/COMMISSIONS
2016 Lightwork Artist in Residence
2016 VG BildKunst Project Grant
2014 Robert Bosch Grenzgaenger Project Grant
2014 Art Residence at MKdWK (Museum Art of West Coast)
2012 VG BildKunst Project Grant
2011 European Culture Foundation Step Beyond Grant
AWARDS
2013 NPPA Best of Photojournalism 2st place Portrait Story
2013 PDN Photo Annual Winner
2012 Photolucida Critical Mass Book Award
2011 PX3 Silver Award Winner Feature story Pro
2010 NPPA Best of Photojournalism 1st place Feature Story
2010 Scoop International Journalism Award -‐ Honorable mention
2009 Visas de L'Association Nationale des Iconographes seleceted laureate, France
2009 Humanistic Photography award, PHODAR Biennial
NOMINATIONS/SHORTLISTS
2016 Shpilman International Prize for Excellence in Photography
2013 Prix Pictet Consumption
2012 Photolucida Critical Mass Top 50
2011 Magnum Emergency Fund
2011 Encontros da Imagem Photography award
2010 Vilnius Photography Festival Award
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Academy of Art Berlin, Haggerty Museum of Art; Museum Kunst der Westküste, Museum of European Cultures Berlin
MONOGRAPHS
InselWesen. Hardbound, 230x210mm, 96 pp, German-English, Kehrer Verlag 2016
Faces and Stories of Entrepreneurs. Art book, 206x260, 224 pages, hardcover, Swiss Development and Cooperation 2015
Promising waters. Hardbound, 240x210mm, 120 pages, English. Kehrer Verlag Heidelberg-Berlin 2013
COLLECTIVE BOOKS
Insight. Ukrainian Black and White Photography XXI century. Art book, 189x250mm, 144 pages, hard cover. Ukraine, 2007
PUBLICATIONS/CLIENTS
British Journal of Photography, Wired Raw File, NYTimes International, Time Magazine , Neue Zurcher Zeitung, Die Zeit, Courrier International, Outlook Magazine China, Alternatives Internationales, The New Times, Forbs Ukraine, others.
Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation; Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit; UNICEF, International AIDS/HIV Alliance, SOS Children Village.
LECTURES
2016 Syracuse University
2014 Barcelona Photography Festival
2009 Multimedia and photojournalism in Moscow State University