Isabella Moore photographs the victims of Russia’s war on homosexuality

Despite the decriminalisation of homosexuality in Russia in 1993, current president Vladimir Putin’s apparent determination to pass laws which oppress gay rights and stigmatise the LGBT community seem to exert a pressure on gay people there that feels a long way away from the comparatively liberal UK. Which is partly why, in the run up to the Sochi Olympics, photographer Isabella Moore undertook a project in which she traveled across Russia photographing those who felt these effect of these laws most intensely. The photographs are intimate and touching; taken in the subjects’ homes and capturing moments of tender affection, they hammer home the frightening reality of movements of oppression, and the important role of photographic journalism in making people aware of it.