Eto Navalnyj

"This is Navalny / Eto Navalnij" is a book by journalist Evgeny Feldman, who has been photographing the politician since the early 2010s, documenting the most important events in his life. Feldman has amassed a vast photo archive: protests, endless trials, the Moscow mayoral elections, the presidential campaign, and his arrest after returning to Russia.

But "This Is Navalny" is not a chronicle of political events or a ceremonial portrait. It is an album of photographs that minimize the distance between the subject and the viewer. It is important to us that you pick up this book and see a man who is courageous and free.

There are no staged shots in "This Is Navalny," so we rarely see Alexei at rest. He is always at the center of the action-and this accurately reflects the course of his political career. Here, Navalny is imprisoned for the first time in a special detention center, escapes from campaign headquarters to meet with voters, energizes supporters at rallies, and, in despair, hears the verdict against his brother. He wipes the green paint from his face and walks through the snow to the Central Election Commission in the famous photos that have spread around the world; he embraces his wife Yulia in images that have never been published before.

Yevgeny Feldman photographed Alexei Navalny for eleven years. He was as close to Navalny as possible while maintaining his independence. Thanks to this unique perspective, simultaneously interested and objective, Alexei appears utterly authentic in each photograph.

Dasha Navalnaya writes in the foreword to the album: "Thank you to Evgeny Feldman for being there and leaving us such memories. Some of these photographs have already become history, and some will be. Thanks in part to Zhenya's photographs, many know what Alexei Navalny was like - cheerful, simple, open, very honest, and very courageous."

Yevgeny Feldman is a photographer and photo editor, one of the most renowned Russian documentary filmmakers. He has collaborated with Novaya Gazeta, AP, Meduza, and The Washington Post. He has published several albums and the book "Dreamers vs. Cosmonauts." In 2022, he was forced to leave Russia and now works on independent projects.