When people ask me about my background it becomes a long explanation,” says photographer Liz Johnson Artur. “I usually start by explaining how my mum is Russian, my dad is Ghanaian and I was born in Bulgaria...”
Johnson Artur is one of a small population of “Russians of colour” born to Russian mothers and African or Caribbean fathers who were offered free university education in the Soviet Union during the Cold War.
After making contact with her father for the first time in 2010, Johnson Artur decided to start documenting the stories of some of the 40,000 other “Russians of colour”, alongside journalist Sarah Bentley.
“Most black Russians I met in Moscow and St Petersburg had also grown up without their fathers. Some had been fostered or grown up in children’s homes and had never met their mothers. But we all agreed that we felt Russian as well as African,” the photographer says.
The presence of black Russians, who often describe themselves as “Afro-Russians”, is a reminder of a time when Soviet state internationalism and support for anti-colonial movements meant attitudes towards race were more neutral.
However, today Russia struggles with a reputation for racism: from the abuse of black footballers to violent policing that in recent years has sparked street protests from African students in St Petersburg.
Read more:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/feb/15/black-in-the-ussr-whats-life-like-for-a-russian-of-colour
