Present-day slavery

• Prize
• Photographer
  Ludmila Ketslakh, United States
• Studio
  Ludmila Ketslakh Photography

The idea that Dubai is an oasis of prosperity on Arabian Peninsula
is one of great misrepresentation of reality. Dubai has Starbucks
and Gucci, the tallest building in the world, but beneath these
splendors, there is dictatorship build by slaves. The people who
really built the city are immigrants’, they are toiling all day at the
top of the tallest buildings in the world, they build malls and
roads, work at the fish and meat markets, work as nannies.
Emirates created a flawless system of exploitation, matchless to
any other establishment in the world. They completely control and
preserve their establishment, Emirates just observe and steer the
system, and they don’t exert themself.
People become migrants because of certain conditions at home;
wars, poverty, inability to find work.
In this situation for millions of people around the world even these
“slavery” conditions is the only way to earn a living.

• Biography
  Formally a Mechanical engineer, I became a photographer in 2001. I graduated from Belarusian Polytechnic Institute with Master Degree in Thermodynamics. Currently I am completing the degree in Photography Technology at WCC in Ann Arbor. During the last nineteen years I have attended numerous workshops at Santa Fe, Maine and TWP photographic workshops. I had chance to met and study with outstanding teachers, they are the most influential photographers of our time who changed the way I look at the world. The list includes: Sam Abell, Antonin Krotochvil, Eugene Richards, Alex Majoli, Andrea Modic
• Awards
  2020 Black & White Magazine, 2020 Spotlight Award Winner. MIFA, 2020 Gold Award in Editorial Photo essay and Bronze Award in Personal Portfolio 2017 Kassel Dummy Book Award 2017. The book “Uncertainty of Being” is being exhibited at international photo events in Istanbul, Moscow, Rome, Madrid, Dublin, Aarhus, Zagreb and Lotz 2015 Black & White magazine featured my work in December 2015 issue, #112, Chernobyl revisited, 10 pages Transforming Community. Neutral Density Award 2015 Making Connection. Group exhibition. Marygrove College, Detroit, MI Transforming Community. Group exhibition. Westbeth Gallery, New York, NY 2014 Black & White Magazine | 2013 Spotlight Award Winner Feature article and portfolio in Black & White, October 2014 issue #105 Water. Group exhibition. Robert Morris Gallery, Chicago, IL Revelations. Group exhibition. Riverside Art Center, Ypsilanti, MI A Matter of Taste. Group exhibition. Michigan Women’s Historical Center & Hall of Fame Cover of the book image. “Elderly Policies in Japan and Scandinavia: Aging Societies East and West” by Paul Milford. 2013 Winner of the Best of ASMP 2013. The ASMP interview is on the ASMP Web site at this link: http://asmp.org/best-2013-ketslakh People of My World. Solo exhibition. Florissant Valley Art Gallery, St. Louis, MO 2012 APEC (Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation) Photography Expedition to the Philippines XXI. My Pacific Ocean project. Selected by RIANOVOSTI, the Russian news and information agency, as one of 21 photographers chronicling life and work in 21 countries. XXI. My Pacific Ocean. Group exhibition. Economic Summit, Vladivostok, Primorsky Krai, Russia XXI. My Pacific Ocean. Group exhibition. Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow. Russia The book XXI. My Pacific Ocean was published alongsite with the exhibition. 2011 ZOOM. Russians Everywhere. Feature article and portfolio. Mirror Image: Women & Photography. Group exhibition. Florissant Valley Art Gallery, St. Louis, MO