WIND AND OTHER DANGERS

Filter Photo is pleased to present Wind and Other Dangers,  a solo exhibition by Sasha Arutyunova. 

Wind and Other Dangers is a probing visual essay that documents the precarity and resilience of ties across continents and generations, as well as a reprieve from the passing of time and the conditions that exceed individual control.  

"Since 2008, photography has been an essential tool to understand how distance and migration transformed my family. Following my parents’ divorce in the early 1990s, my mother and I left Moscow and immigrated to the United States. My childhood and teenage life unfurled in the interstices of separation and togetherness across Russian and English, palm trees and snow, bright tropical constructions and the cozy interiors of post-Soviet apartments. As a young adult, I began to use the camera to make sense of the growing distance between my Russian-Armenian father and grandparents in Moscow and St. Petersburg; my Russian-Jewish mother’s new life in Florida; and shifting Americanized versions of myself. Making pictures with my family became a vital way to examine our identities and see one another. These moments and the resulting images helped bridge a growing chasm conditioned by economic opportunity, geopolitical tensions, and personal growth." —Sasha Arutyunova

About the Artist

Sasha Arutyunova, a Brooklyn-based photographer and director whose work is grounded in sensitive storytelling. Characterized by atmospheric visual language, her photographs strive to elevate the everyday, draw out connections between people and their natural environment, and convey nuanced perspectives of complex relationships.

Central to her practice is a long term project documenting her family across Russia, Armenia, and the United States, exploring migration, memory, and cultural identity. Her book, Shelter, documenting the 2020 pandemic lockdown in New York City, was published by TIS books in 2021 and is included in New York’s Museum of Modern Art Library. Her recent series, Finibusterrae, examines the lifecycle of olive trees in southern Italy amid ecological crisis.

Arutyunova’s work has appeared in publications including The New Yorker, National Geographic, The New York Times Magazine, The Atlantic, and TIME. Her work has also been exhibited by the Houston Center of Photography; The Humid, Atlanta; Filter Photo, Chicago; HayArt Contemporary Art Centre, Yerevan; and the OMNEFEST Biennial and Museo Casa Giorgione, both in Italy. She was named one of PDN’s 30 New and Emerging Photographers to Watch in 2017, a Finalist for the Aperture Portfolio Prize in 2023, and for the Lucie Foundation Scholarship in 2024. Arutyunova has been honored in American Photography, the PDN Photo Annual, Magenta Foundation Flash Forward, and ADC Young Guns. In 2026, she was the receipient of The New York Botanical Garden's Larry Lederman Photography Fellowship.