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Photographic documentary by

Yaroslava TARASOVA – Russia, 2015 / 2016

Photo 01 - Valentina Mikhailovna Kabanikhina (75) and Mikhail Nikolaevich Sinelnikov (66) met at the dance club for people over 50. “I liked Michel at first sight, he is kind and caring, and unlike my ex-husband Mikhail is not at all jealous”. Mikail Nikolaevich writes poetry, and quite often he dedicates his poems to his spouse.

LAST LOVE

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Photo 02 - Maria Andrianovna Velichko (60) and Nikolai Aleksandrovich Krivokhizhenko (66) first met at work. “We met in 2008. At our first date we walked down Morskaya Embankment. Nikolai Aleksandrovich presented me a huge bouquet of red roses. I was feeling so embarrassed that I did not take a cigarette. It was at that first date that we realized that we would end up living together”.

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Photo 03 - Barbakova Lubov Pimenovna (74) and Balahonov Aleksei Alekseevich (87) met at the “Vishenki” old people’s home in Smolensk. This is one of the biggest homes for elderly people in Russia. Aleksei Alekseevich moved there because he did not want to be a burden for his brother. He also wanted to have an opportunity to communicate with people of his age. He met Lubov Pimenovna in the centre right after she had moved there, and a few months later they decided to move in together into a private room. The supervisors of the centre encourage marriages and allow the newlyweds to move into rooms of their own.

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Photo 04 - Tatiana Nikolaevna Rodcevich (75) and Troshin Victor Sergeevich (78) met at the concert organised by the School of the Third Age, an association that works with pensioners and hosts eldery citizens clubs in Saint-Petersburg to provide the seniors with leisure activities. Tatiana Nikolaevna has loved playing the accordion and the piano since childhood. A few years ago she learned how to play the mandolin and the guitar. Victor Sergeevich shares Tatiana Nikolaevna’s interest in music and learned the guitar from her.

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Photo 05 - Krivosheeva Ekaterina Ivanovna (80) and Petrov Ivan Kuzmich met at the “Vishenki” old people’s home in Smolensk. Ekaterina Ivanovna jokes that she won her husband in a card game. At summer pensioners who live in the home love playing card games outdoors. A lot of people make acquaintances there. One day during a card game Ekaterina Ivanovna noticed that Ivan Kuzmich was deliberately losing in a game with her, and that is how their relationship started. After a few months of dating Ivan Kuzmich offered Ekaterina Ivanovna to move in together but she was in doubt. Ekaterina Ivanovna is a physically impaired person, and she did not want to become a burden for Ivan Kuzmich. However, this fact did not make the man hesitate, and soon they started living together. Though Ekaterina Ivanovna has serious problems with her health, she is very optimistic. She sings the leading part in a choir. Ivan Kuzmich supports his wife and takes good care of her.

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Photo 06 - Maneko Lubov Maksimovna (61) and Koshman Sergey Borisovich (70) live in the “Vishenki” old people’s home in Smolensk where they met for the first time. Lubov Maksimovna doesn’t hide the fact that they formed a couple to take advantage of the private room that is granted to couples. “Everyone was laughing at us and joking when we were registering our marriage in the civil registry office. It was a surprise for them that we had decided to marry so late in life”, says Lubov Maksimovna. Lubov Maksimovna and Sergey Borisovich have tough relations with their families. Lubov Maksimovna was left on her own when her son, who had been a drug addict, died. Soon after that her heart problems started, and she moved to the home. Sergey Borisovich moved there after he had been paralyzed as he needed special treatment. His relatives do not visit him.

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Photo 07 - Larisa Danilovna Moiseenkova (61) met Zmeev Yury Andreevich (59) with the help of her sister. She worked at a military barracks in which Yury Andreevich was listed as a retired military specialist. At that moment Larisa Danilovna was a widow, and Yury Andreevich was planning to divorce from his second wife. They started living together very quickly, because they had already had a family experience before, and they both knew what kind of a relationship they needed. They also have a lot in common. During two years together they have never even had a huge dispute. “People can find a better half at any age and can even have some warm feelings. I don’t know whether it is love or not but when Yury Andreevich is out for work I miss him and he misses me too”, Larisa Danilovna replied.

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Photo 08 - Sbitneva Alexandra Nikitichna (80) and Shutov Anatoly Andreevich (65) have got together fourteen years ago. They met in the “Vishenki” old people’s home in Smolensk. Anatoly Andreevich is visually impaired. He had to move to the home after the death of his wife. Alexandra Nikitichna moved to the home after the death of her son. The couple does not have any relatives who can visit them. They often take a walk around the grounds of the home, but Anatoly Andreevich says that he has become less interested in walking since he lost his sight completely.

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Photo 09 - Ida Vasilevna Avksenteva (81) and Yury Ivanovich Nikiforov (77) met fourteen years ago at Zelenogorsk, a small town close to Saint Petersburg, where Ida Vasilevna used to spend time with her ex-husband. She was sitting near a roadside cafe when Yury Ivanovich first saw her. Now the couple lives in the “Red Star” home for elderly people near Zelenogorsk.

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Photo 10 - Genrikh Zacharovich Lubinskii (82) and Aleksandra Nikolaevna Zareckaya (70) “The chance that we should meet was one in a million. I think that this is a miracle that I have met a woman who was made exactly for me. We met at a friend’s house. I visited her rather rarely, and Aleksandra Nikolaevna visited her only once, and it happenend to be the day that we met. I am very lucky as not everyone gets the chance to meet a soul mate.”

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Photo 11 - Elena Ivanovna Proshina (61) and Vladislav Viktorovich Nikulenko (69) met in the spring of 1973 on board a suburban train which they both used to take for the daily commute to Saint Peterburg for study and work reasons. Vladislav Viktorovich kept looking at Elena Ivanovna but was too shy to start talking to her. Elena Ivanovna, a young girl at that time, noticed him and engaged in discussion. After a few months of dating Vladislav Viktorovich had offered Elena Ivanovna to become his wife, and she promised him to think about it, but soon after that the couple had a quarrel and decided to break up. The next time they met was twenty years later. They were married at last but without telling their relatives.

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Photo 12 - Natalia Iosefovna Alekseeva (66) and Anatoly Ivanovich Alekseev (76) met at a state boarding house for the retired and disabled. This is where they are now living. Natalia Iosifovna is blind from the age of 3, and Anatoly Ivanovich is visually impaired. They both were brought to the boarding house against their will. Natalia Iosifovna moved there because her sister had refused to take care of her disabled relative. Anatoly Ivanovich had been left homeless, and his son refused to give him money. They used to like to walk together in the nearest park, but now as Natalia Iosifovna is barely able to walk they almost never leave the grounds of the boarding house.

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Photo 13 - Bravaya Lubov Borisovna (65) and Bravy Anatoly Alekseevitch (61) met twenty years ago. They had been working together at a factory. “When I started to work there, female colleagues asked me if I had a husband or boyfriend and when I said no, predicted that I would definitely meet somebody at work. They weren’t wrong, and I met Anatoly Alekseevitch, who worked at the plant as a security guard”, says Lubov Borisovna. After twenty years together, the couple decided to marry officially. It was a first marriage for Lubov Borisovna and the second time for Anatoly Alekseevitch.

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Photo 14 - Galina Ivanovna Chunina (75) and Aleksei Alekseevich Gordienko (73) met in 1959 in the Russian city of Blagoveshchensk in the Russian Far East. At that time they both were students of a geological technical school. In 1960 they moved to different towns, but managed to keep in touch. In 1967 Galina Ivanovna married someone else and so they stopped writing letters to each other. Forty-seven years later Galina Ivanovna contacted Aleksei Alekseevich through a social network. Not long after that he moved to Saint Petersburg to move in with Galina Ivanovna. Aleksei Alekseevich came from Ukraine where he had been living with his son.

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Photo 15 – Nina Alekseevna Shumskaya (89) and Valentin Vlasovich Pautov (89) met when they were children, living in Turkmenistan but they didn’t

communicate at that time. Later Nina Alekseevna became an opera singer, and Valentin Vlasovich became a drama actor. They met again when they were 69

years old and settled down as a couple.

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Photo 16 – Karimova Antonina Aleksandrovna (60) and Karimov Goumer Islamovich (68) are writers. They met in 2003 at the Union of Writers of Pavlovsk, Leningrad region. Goumer Islamovich had been the founder of the union, and at that time his future wife was an unfledged writer. – “I thought at that time that by my age I was through with my love life that is why I allowed my daughter to choose if Goumer was a good match for me. My daughter liked Goumer. Soon after we met she started calling him “Dad”. We have not had any expectations from each other, and maybe that is the secret of our warm relations”, says Antonina Aleksandrovna.

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Photo 17 – Nikolai Konstantinovich Nikolaev (85) and Valentina Aleksandrovna Dildina (75) met in the “Peter’s Mills” private pension house near Saint-Petersburg. They both are very angry at their relatives who had sent them to the pension house. Valentina Aleksandrovna suffers from amnesia, doesn`t remember her past and can barely walk. Nikolai Konstantinovich takes care of her and accompanies her everywhere. “She is very kind and I love her. This opportunity to take care of somebody when you are old and to feel that someone needs you helps me and gives my life a meaning.”

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Photo 18 – Olga Aleksandrovna Orlova (63) and Sergey Vladimirovich Petrov (65) met at a private pension for elderly people. They both had moved in there by their own will as they did not want to be a burden for their relatives who had had to take care of them. Almost all who come to the pension are physically impaired: they are unable to walk and have difficulty speaking. This is why the couple does not have many friends there, but they have plenty of free time for talking, reading books and playing board games.