—Danila Tkachenko, interviewed by Alexander Strecker Restricted Areas Hardcover, 30 x 24 cm 80 pages 32 color ills. This book was published as part of the European Publishers Award for Photography. This involves five of Europe’s top photobook publishers. Hronometrazh rabochego vremeni socialjnogo rabotnika obrazec.

Danila Tkachenko is a visual artist working with documentary photography. The main theme of his work is the identity. In the debut project “Transitional Age' he is interested in the transformation of a teenager’s identity – a child becomes an adult. In his following project 'Escape' the focus shifts to the opposition of the individual and society. Danila researches the experience of hermits – people who live through decades alone with nature –and tries to find the answer for the critical questions: whether the individual freed from social environment becomes closer to his “true” self; and what happens to personality when it loses its 'social mask.' His recent project 'Restricted Areas' is reflecting on the identity of a civilisation and its relations with technological advances.

Deserted places that were once sites of national importance, buildings and machinery which are now relics of the past are photographed in a vacuum white space of eternal winter.

Before joining EWI, Danila was an Inbev scholar for EU-Russia relations at the Louvain-la Neuve and Leuven universities in Belgium. He also worked on China and Central Asia affairs at the European Parliament and the Energy Charter Secretariat and frequently advises private sector companies and international institutions.

Danila studied international relations, history and political economy in Paris, London and Nizhniy Novgorod (Russia). He has several post-graduate qualifications in international relations, including a PhD. Danila is the author of a number of academic publications and policy papers, and regularly contributes to international media and policy debates on EU, Russian and Eurasian energy, security and foreign policy. He also possesses several and professional distinctions, including being a royal Dutch Shell and French government scholar. Danila is a native Russian speaker and is fluent in English and French.