“Schwarzenegger Is My Idol”

“Schwarzenegger Is My Idol” by Sergiy Melnitchenko If every era had one word for its aspirations and mood, in Ukraine in the 1990s and early 2000s it would probably be “krutyi”: tough, cool. The time of VHS tapes, action films and cult heroes who change reality by sheer force of will. Photographer Sergiy Melnitchenko made a series about this cult. The subjects are five of his friends and the author himself, all photographed naked in a typical run-down Soviet-era gym. The nudity brings the honesty and cheek needed to recreate the spirit and mood of youth.