A fabulous world in the works of Uldus

Russian artist Uldus (Yuldus Bakhtiozina) creates surreal photo portraits of mermaids, demons, heroines of fairy tales and dwarfs. It combines stereotypes about modern Russian culture, the tradition of Russian fairy tales and folklore. Yuldus uses pagan archetypes, femininity and magic. So the artist created her own magical world of fairy-tale heroes.

(13 photos in total)

Source: TED

Triglav (the three-headed goddess)

A princess from fairy tales with a cosmic and feminine body, protected by moonlight. The three—headed princess represents three elements - earth, water and air. It protects mountains, valleys and forests.

In the interpretation of Yuldus, the Firebird is almost like a phoenix bird. It's not easy to catch her, but she will help steal golden apples from the royal garden.

A literal understanding that red means girlish modesty and youth.

All the stereotypes about Russians in one photo — oil baths, meat on the table, gold and stones, as well as a mixture of cultures and nationalities.

A little girl who got lost in the dense forest comes to the hut. A family of bears lives there. When they returned and saw that someone was in charge of their hut, they were very angry. But Masha defeated the bears, so she sits and celebrates the victory with a cigarette.

It is difficult to explain to a foreigner what milk rivers and jelly banks are. And we ourselves don't quite understand where it is and how it looks. We believe that beautiful princesses are hiding there — they sleep there. If a traveler accidentally wanders into these parts, the princesses will turn into butterflies.

Slavic pagans were animists, they revered the gods of nature. Often the heroes of fairy tales talked to the forest, the sun or the rain to ask them for help or advice.

Russia has its own fairy tale about Snow White, but instead of dwarfs there are seven beautiful heroes, brothers of the princess.

Everyone remembers the fairy tale about the enchanted prince, who could only be saved from the spell by the love of the red maiden. The artist interpreted the fairy tale in her own way, showing the romanticism of the unknown.

In "The Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish," the old man caught a goldfish that fulfills three wishes. But the old man did not want the fulfillment of desires, and then his wife took these desires for herself. All she asked for was wealth and fame, but the goldfish got angry and brought the old man and the old woman back to poverty. But the old man was so happy, because he had no desires.

The Tsar's Jester, harlequin, a comic character of the Russian puppet theater. He always has a devilish grimace, a fake smile and a heartless humor.

In fairy tales, Ivan the Fool communicates with nature and animals, who always come to the rescue. As a result, Ivan, no matter how stupid he is, marries the most beautiful princess.

A fairy tale about an elderly couple who had a chicken laying golden eggs. But it did not bring them happiness. Here we see a sad Ripple in the guise of a man.