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Corvus Mechanicus

Typology of the Black Raven

Lumpini Park, Bangkok · 15 January 2026 · infrared B&W · IR Chrome

Thirteen ravens from a Bangkok park — and a word that, in Russian, has never meant only a bird.

Жил да был ворон, жил да был черный,
Жил да пел песни языком вороньим…

In the strict taxonomies of ornithology, the Raven (Corvus corax) is defined by its biology: the wedge-shaped tail, the shaggy throat hackles, the primal intelligence. But in the taxonomy of human memory, the Raven is a shapeshifter. It is the trickster of the indigenous Northwest, the guardian of the Tower of London, and the shadow on the floor speaking “Nevermore.”

This series, Typology of the Black Raven, is the result of two days of continuous tracking in Bangkok’s Lumpini Park. A forest raven hides from man; the park raven has adapted to him. I captured them perched on the high-tension wires of the city’s power grid, scavenging in the earth, and screaming into the void of the lens. Infrared photography creates a tonal rupture here: the bird is not just dark; it becomes a “perfect black body” set against the silhouette whiteness and psychedelic brightness of the world.

Crucially, for the Russian historical consciousness, the “Black Raven” (Chorny Voron) is never just a bird. It is the colloquial name for the black GAZ-M1 prison vans of the NKVD — the vehicles that roamed the streets of the 20th century, collecting citizens and delivering them into silence. For me, this symbol is visceral and terrifyingly current. Having personally faced political persecution in Russia and survived a failed attempt at my arrest before being forced to flee the country, I hear the echo of those engines in the beating of wings.

These photographs ask: When we look at the raven, do we see nature’s survivor, or do we see the dark reflection of our own history coming for us?

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