Following the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, Russian authorities began seeking out internal enemies. Members of the LGBTQIA+ community became the primary targets. Since 2023, the government has enacted a series of discriminatory laws, forcing members of the community to leave the country to escape persecution and the daily discrimination that has intensified due to escalating militarization.
The long-term portrait project "Dreamers" focuses on the stories of queer couples from Russia who fled to various destinations, including Turkey, Georgia, and Germany. to start life anew.

All the characters of the story dream of peace and hope to find the right path in the context of the ongoing events by the means of love. Is it possible at all with all these scars and traumas that the past leaves behind?

Sergei Stroitelev, BIO

Sergei is a Russian born freelance photographer and visual artist. His photographic practice primarily focuses on the exploration of t he issues of modern society. With the help of different visual languages and forms he looks at the problems of identity of minorities, prejudice on the basis of race, religion, gender and sexual orientation, issues of ecology, consequences of the conflicts and natural disasters.
He is the awardee of the number of international contests such as: NPPA Best of Photojournalism,
Bartur Photo Awards, Pictures of the Year International, Pictures of the Year Asia, Istanbul Photo Awards, Luis Valtuena Humanitarian Photography Award and many more.
He left Russia on the 4th of March 2022, after the start of the war in Ukraine. I was working with non
state controlled publicati ons thus it was unsafe for me to stay in the country due to the war censorship. He is currently based in Berlin, Germany.