Irina Chmyreva was born in 1974 in Krasnodar, USSR.
In 1989-1991 worked as a junior researcher at the Krasnodar Regional Exhibition Hall of Fine Arts.
In 1991-1996 she studied at the Moscow Surikov State Academic Institute of Fine Arts at the department of theory and history of fine arts; red diploma.
In 1999-2002 worked as a senior researcher at the Department of Photographic Projects and Collections of the State Museum of Fine Arts ROSIZO, Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation.
In 1996-1999 she was a full-time postgraduate student at the Research Institute of Theory and History of Art of the Russian Academy of Arts.
From 1996 to the present time she has been engaged in curatorial activities and has held more than 120 exhibitions of photography and contemporary art in 18 countries of the world: in Austria, Australia, Argentina, Bulgaria, Brazil, China, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, South Korea, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Sweden, USA.
In 2003 she wrote her PhD thesis on the mutual influence of the practices of photography and painting in the works of post-impressionist artists, primarily Pierre Bonnard; dissertation council of the Moscow Surikov State Academic Institute of Fine Arts.
In 2003-2008 she worked as a leading researcher at the Department of Photographic Projects and Collections of the Moscow Museum of Modern Art.
In 2004 she received the degree of Candidate of Art History, specialising in art history.
From 2008 to the present day she has been co-organiser and art director of the PhotoVisa International Festival of Photography in the Krasnodar region (in 2010-2015 the festival was held under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation and the State Museum and Exhibition Center ROSIZO; in 2012-2015 she was also co-organiser of the festival ‘Project in support of photography in Russia’ of the Iris Foundation).
From 2021 to the present day she has been working as a leading lecturer of theoretical subjects in the Department of Photography at the School of Design of the National Research University Higher School of Economics in Moscow, Russia.
Irina Chmyreva has worked under contract with the State Museum and Exhibition Center ROSIZO, the Moscow House of Photography, the F. A. Kovalenko Art Museum in Krasnodar, and the Krasnodar Museum of Art. F. A. Kovalenko; Krasnodar Historical and Archaeological Museum-Reserve named after F. A. Kovalenko; Krasnodar Historical and Archaeological Museum-Reserve named after F. A. Kovalenko. Е. D. Felitsyn; Kargopol Historical and Architectural Museum-Reserve and other Russian museum institutions and archives. She has also worked under contract as a consultant and guest curator with foreign museum institutions and photography centres. She has extensive experience of research work in Russian and foreign archives, including the Russian State Film and Photo Archive and the Central State Archive of Film, Photo and Photo Documents; regional archives of the Russian Federation; the archives of the Musée d’Orsay, Paris, France; the National Archives, Washington, D.C., USA; the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, USA; the Getty Collection, Los Angeles, USA, and others. She has worked on numerous photography book projects as an editor and contributing author.
Since 1996 member of AIS (Russian Association of Art Historians).
Since 2003 member of Oracle (International Association of Curators of Photography).
Since 2014 member of AICA (International Association of Art Critics).
Since 2019 chairman of Creative Union Viva Photo (Krasnodar regional public organization).
Since 2012 year member of ASEEES (Association of Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies).
Since 2025 author of articles and essays on photography in NCU (Noga Creative Union).
Professional awards and grants
2022-2023 — Fellow of the Fulbright Foundation, USA.
2022 — Diploma of the Russian Academy of Arts.
2022 — Curatorial Excellence Award of the Pingyao International Photography Festival, China.
2020 — Diploma of the Russian Academy of Arts.
2020 — First place in the category ‘Best Contemporary Photography Publication’ of the competition ‘Photographic Book of Central and Eastern Europe 2019-2020’ in Bratislava, Slovakia for the monograph ‘Native Retro. Moscow saga of photographer Mikhail Dashevsky. 1962-2002’.
2019 — Curatorial Excellence Award of the International Photography Festival in Pingyao, China.
2017 — Silver Medal ‘Worthy’ of the Russian Academy of Arts for the book ‘Essays on the History of Russian Photography’.
2014 — Second place in the nomination ‘Best Historical Publication on Photography’ of the competition ‘Photographic Book of Central and Eastern Europe 2013-2014’ in Bratislava, Slovakia as part of the team of authors of the book ‘Photographic History. Photography in the collection of Russian State Archive of Literature and Art’.
2013 — Short-listed for the national award ‘Book of the Year of Russia’ as a member of the team of authors of the book ‘Photographic History. Photography in the collection of Russian State Archive of Literature and Art’.
2008 — ‘The best publication of the Federal Archives Administration of the Russian Federation’ for the book ‘Military Photo Chronicle of Russia’ (edition of the Russian State Archive of Archives, author of the text).
2008 — First place in the nomination ‘The best modern edition on photography’ of the competition ‘Photographic book of the countries of Central and Eastern Europe 2007-2008’ in Bratislava, Slovakia as the author and compiler of the book ‘Vadim Gushchin. Photographs’ (Moscow: Artist and Book, 2007).
2007 — Best Publication of the Federal Archive Administration of the Russian Federation’ for the book “Peter Otsup” (edition of the Russian State Archive of Archives, author of the text).
2003 — Diploma of the Russian Academy of Arts.
2002 — First place in the nomination ‘The Best Modern Edition on Photography’ of the competition ‘Photographic Book of Central and Eastern Europe 2001-2002’ in Bratislava, Slovakia as the author and compiler of the book ‘Mikhail Dashevsky. Sunken Time’ (Moscow: Shchusev Museum of Architecture, 2002).
1996 — Scholarship of the President of the Russian Federation (Scholarship of the President of the Russian Federation for Young Scientists).
Solo curatorial exhibitions and events
2025 — ARGUS-2024: Photography among the Arts, exhibition of the winners of the IV All-Russian Photography Competition as part of the Yuri Bashmet International Winter Arts Festival in Sochi, Winter Theatre, Sochi, Russia.
2024 — Steppe, solo exhibition of photographer A Yong (China) as part of the PhotoVisa International Festival of Photography in the Krasnodar Region, Krasnodar Art Museum named after F. A. Kovalenko, Sochi, Russia. F.A. Kovalenko Art Museum, Krasnodar, Russia.
2024 — Bear and Forbear, Grigory Mayofis solo exhibition; Left Hand / Right Hand, an exhibition of 13 authors from 6 countries; Contemporary Russian Photographic Education, an exhibition of works by students of the Bachelor’s and Master’s programmes of the Kosygin Russian State University as part of the XXIV Pingyao International Photography Festival, Pingyao, China.
2024 — Big Cities in Moscow, as part of the Moscow 2030 and BRICS 2024 programmes in Moscow, Zaryadye Underground Museum, Moscow, Russia.
2023 — Hybrid Landscapes by Lara Fedotova, PENNLAB Gallery, Moscow, Russia.
2023 — In Fire, solo exhibition by Lisa Factor (USA); Burundi. Land of Coffee, solo exhibition by Andrei Gordasevich (Russia — Switzerland); Contemporary Russian Photographic Education, Faculty of Journalism, Moscow State University and School of Design, Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia; Spiritual landscapes. Volume 1, an exhibition of 9 photographers from 7 countries as part of the XXIII Pingyao International Photography Festival, Pingyao, China.
2022 — Unread Warnings, an exhibition of five Russian and Ukrainian photographers at the Nash Texas Centre for Russian Culture as part of FotoFest 2022, International Biennial of Photography in Houston, USA.
2022 — Russian Photography Education, an exhibition of teachers and students from 12 schools (educational programmes) from 3 Russian cities; Mother’s — Daughter’s — Sister’s — Mine, an exhibition of 8 women photographers from 5 countries; Dreamed Space, an exhibition of 5 authors from 3 countries — all as part of the II Quanzhou Triennial of Photography Art at the China Museum of Photography Art, Quanzhou, China.
2022 — Mother’s — Daughter’s — Daughter’s — Sister’s — Mine, an exhibition of 8 women photographers from 5 countries; Dreamed Space, an exhibition of 5 authors from 3 countries — all as part of the XXII Pingyao International Photography Festival, Pingyao, China.
2021-2022 — Desiderium by BAILUN. Contemporary Russian daguerreotype, PENNLAB Gallery, Moscow, Russia.
2021 — Four Seasons of Good Feeling, an exhibition of 12 authors from 7 countries; solo exhibition by Ekaterina Bubnova, Russia — both as part of the XXI Pingyao International Photography Festival, Pingyao, China.
2021 — Soviet Women Photographers during the Great Patriotic War, an exhibition of seven Soviet photographers from public and private collections in Russia, Museum of the Chinese People’s Confrontation with the Japanese Occupiers, Beijing, China. Joint project with the Russian Embassy in China.
2021 — Boris and Olga Ignatovich. Two Faces of War, Museum of Moscow, Moscow, Russia.
2020 — Moscow through the lens of Nikolai Rakhmanov and Mikhail Dashevsky, as part of the XX Pingyao International Photography Festival, Pingyao, China.
2019 — Yana Vasilieva solo exhibition, Russia; Ilya Ivankin solo exhibition, Russia; Pure Home, an exhibition of 9 authors from 7 countries — both as part of the XIX Pingyao International Photography Festival, Pingyao, China.
2019 — Mikhail Dashevsky. Invisible Moscow of pre-Perestroika Soviet Era, Soyer’s Building, supported by FotoFest Inc. and the Nash Texas Centre for Russian Culture, Houston, USA.
2019 — Mikhail Dashevsky. Unofficial Portrait of the Time, Galeria 19 Contemporary Art Gallery, as part of the International Month of Photography Festival in Bratislava, Slovakia.
2018-2019 — Native Retro. Moscow saga of photographer Mikhail Dashevsky. 1962- 2002, Museum of Moscow, Moscow, Russia.
2018 — Artist as a Hero, an exhibition of 8 photographers from 6 countries as part of the XVIII Pingyao International Photography Festival, Pingyao, China.
2018 — Multicontours by Nikolai Drachinsky, Museum of Moscow, Moscow, Russia.
2017 — Nikolai Drachinsky solo exhibition, photographs from Chinese business trips 1956-1958; Space Journey, an exhibition of 6 photographers from 4 countries — both as part of the XVII Pingyao International Festival of Photography, Pingyao, China.
2016-2022, 2008-2010 — exhibition programmes of the PhotoVisa International Festival of Photography in Krasnodar Krai, Russia.
2016 — City and Memory, an exhibition of five contemporary Russian photographers, Odense Museum of Art, Denmark’s First Biennale of Photography.
2016 — Muscovites Remember. August 1991, Museum of Moscow, Moscow, Russia.
2016 — Declared Detachment, photographs by Maria Kozhanova, De La Luz International Festival, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
2013 — Contemporary Russian Photography: Metaphysicians and Poets, as part of the programme Russia is the official guest of the International Festival of Photography in Seoul, South Korea.
2011 — The Other Shore, photographs by Nikita Pirogov, installation at the centre of photography — Image Gallery, Aarhus, Denmark.
2011 — Crossroads, Contemporary Russian Photography, National Centre for Photography Australia, Sydney, Australia.
2009 — Contemporary Russian Photography. Volume One, Senko Gallery, Viborg, Denmark.
Jury member of International photographic competitions and portfolio revues
2021 — to the present — Artistic Director of the International Photography Competition ‘ARGUS: Photography among the Arts’, Russia.
2019 — to the present — Nominating Jury Member of the FOAM International Competition for Young Photographers, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
2018 — to the present — Jury member of the international category of the IPA International Photography Competition, New York, USA.
2016 — to the present — Jury member of different categories of the international Lens Culture Awards, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
2016-2020 — Nominating Jury Member of the International Competition for the Joop Swart Scholarship and Education Programme of the World Press Photo Corporation, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
2015 — Hasselblad Prize, Sweden.
2014, 2012 — International competition of post-graduate and graduate diploma works in photography, Poland.
2013 — Syngenta International Photography Award, Switzerland — UK.
From 1999 to the present — participates in International Portfolio Revues all over the world.
Organiser of scientific and scientific-practical conferences
2024 — Genus and family. Photographic research, International Scientific and Practical Conference, China Museum of Photography Art, Quanzhou, China.
2021 — Photography as art. Russian pictorial photography, All-Russian scientific conference in the framework of the exhibition of photographer-artist N.P. Andreev at the State Tretyakov Gallery, Russian Academy of Arts — State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Russia.
2019 — Photography as art, I International Scientific Conference, Russian Academy of Arts, Moscow, Russia.
Bibliography
2022 — Lexicon of Russian photography of XX-XXI centuries: a collection of articles by Irina Chmyreva, Indrik Publishing House, ISBN 5 916 746 652, 9 785 916 746 655, Moscow, Russia.
2016 — Essays on the history of Russian photography, Indrik Publishing House, ISBN 5 916 743 947, 9 785 916 743 944, Moscow, Russia.
