Anya Gorkova

Anya Gorkova (b. 1998, Moscow) is an artist and photographer based in London. Gorkova’s practice is concerned with ‘queering’ the medium of photography by focusing on its unusual and lesser-known aspects. Collaborating with London photographic labs, they collect the waste products of darkrooms – paper, chemicals and scraps of film – to create new works and call attention to the sustainability of the lab processes.

Gorkova also contributes to HÄN, a queer archive which chronicles the LGBTQ+ art and fashion community in London, showcasing the diversity of the community. Encompassing a digital archive, website, publishing, art and community projects, HÄN seeks to connect people across generations and give queer history new life. It is a tool to combat erasure and celebrate queer joy.

Recent group exhibitions include ‘Allow Cookies’, Kupfer Projects (2023) and commissioned performances and events include Tate Film, ‘Interior: The Voice of dreams’, Tate Modern, London (2023); HÄN Archive, ‘Queer heritage of Tove Jansson in collaboration with Finnish Institute’, London (2022), Anya Gorkova Edition prints for fashion designer René Scheibenbauer (London, 2022).

Gorkova is included the upcoming publications: Flora Dunster and Theo Gordon, Photography: A Queer History, (London: Octopus/Ilex, 2024), and Flora Dunster, “Gender, Identity & Queer Theory in Photography Today,” in The Routledge Companion to Global Photographies, eds. Lucy Soutter and Duncan Wooldridge (London: Routledge, 2024). 

Awards and nominations include shortlisting for the LVMH Maison/0 Sustainability Award (2022); winner of the Dean’s prize at Central Saint Martins (2022) alongside acquisition of their work by the Central Saint Martins Museum. Gorkova has been featured in Frieze Magazine, Evening Standard (UK), Dazed (UK), Vogue (US), Numero Berlin (DE), Kaltblat Magazine (DE), Replica Magazine (UK), Wallpaper Magazine (UK), Somesuch Magazine (UK/US), Clash Magazine (UK) and more.