Yaroslava Tarasova is a documentary photographer born in Riga, Latvia. She started learning photography after moving to Saint-Petersburg in 2009. She graduated from FotoDepartment Institute where she had taken the course of Documentary Photography and Photojournalism by Mikhail Domojilov in 2015. She is mainly working on topics devoted to social prejudice and inequality. The works of Yaroslava Tarasova have won recognition by the public with publications in the major Russian and international media such as Lenta.ru, Echo Moscow, Bird in Flight, Openrussia, Russia beyond the headlines,Sophot.com(France), Hojskolebladet.dk(Denmark), Dodho.com(Spain).
Every year more refugees are coming to Europe. There were about 6000 applications for refugee status in Denmark during 2016. To address this situation the Danish government started a special refugee program at folk high schools all across Denmark. At these schools young refugees study Danish language, culture, history, and literature. Grundtvigs Folk High School is included in this program. In the spring of 2017, 10 of 150 Grundtvigs students attended as part of this integration project. Though the Danish government has started paying more attention to this processes, integration into Danish society remains a challenge for refugees. No matter how many years some refugees live in Denmark, many still can’t – or won’t – call themselves Danish. The language, religion, and culture gaps are too big. This causes loneliness and a sense of detachment from mainstream Danish society.
Mohammed came to Denmark 20 years ago. He left Iraq with his elder brother after the first American invasion when he was only 8 years old. Mohammed’s family didn’t have money to buy fake passports, so along with other refugees his family sailed across the Black Sea to reach Bulgaria. A border guard patrol stopped the ship and they had to swim to Bulgarian coast. There were not enough life jackets. Mohammed’s older brother gave him his life vest. “My brother sank. I reached the Bulgarian coast alone. I didn’t have any money or food. I ate grass as there was nothing else, and finally got sick. Refugees from Eritrea and Palestine found a doctor. We travelled together to Germany. After Germany I went to Denmark where I was stopped by immigration service. They took custody of me, which is why I stayed in Denmark. After three years the rest of my family also moved here.”
Tanya and Masha met at a school of classic tango that teaches both roles to everyone, and started to dance and attend tango parties together. Tanya: Contrary to the view of most people, tango doesn’t always help to improve relationships. Tango stimulates increased hormonal excitement and intensely fluctuating emotions due to changing partners. There are always some people you like to dance with more than others, but your lover isn’t necessarily that person with whom you like to dance the most. It causes bitterness and jealousy: that’s why couples that are formed in dance clubs break up soon.