CHASING DREAMS

Photography

Photographer Angelika Goltyaeva questions false motives through true fantasy.

s READ MORE

CLOSE

CHASING DREAMS

WORDS BY Libby Borton

For Angelika Goltyaeva, pets have always been a part of everyday life. Growing up in Moscow she studied animal training and psychology, but her passion really lay in her childhood love: photography. When LuLu, her West Highland terrier, came along in 2015, her love of photography and animals finally collided sparking a decision to focus her camera solely on the canine side of life.

Her latest photographic series, Dreams, steers away from her colourful pet portraiture to a darker, more ethereal notion. A whippet stares melancholically into the lens, surrounded by puffs of iridescent clouds. Though beautiful to the eye, they represent dreams that are not our own. “People want to get the same beautiful life as their idols but they do not understand that these dreams are dictated to them by society, not their heart,” she says. The doe-eyed whippet was chosen specifically for its elegance and fragility, but mostly for its highly expressive face. As captivating as the images are, the clouds spinning about the handsome hound’s head are as useless to the dog as social media delusions are to us.

—
angelikagoltyaeva.ru
@angelika.goltyaeva

CLOSE

Publications

CELEBRATING FIVE YEARS

A heartfelt thank you to all the photographers, artists, illustrators, and writers who trusted us, dived in, and brought us delight, grace, excitement, courage, wilderness, and wonder over the last five years. Their work not only reflects the bonds we share with our animal companions, it also celebrates their spirit.

None of this would be possible without our four-legged counterparts who sprinkle magic dust time and time again, and our readers, who embraced this kooky idea, rallied around us, and made this world theirs too. With friends like these, who needs nine lives?

February 5, 2019