Gavril Starostin is a photographer based in Syracuse, New York, originally from Yakutia, Russia. For him, photography has always been connected to memory. His father was an amateur photographer who passed away when Gavril was six, and the photographs he left behind became one of the few ways Gavril could return to moments he was too young to remember. Years later, those family albums still shape the way he thinks about photography — as something that can outlive a moment and keep a person, a place, or a way of life from disappearing completely.

Growing up in Yakutia gave this idea another meaning. Gavril comes from a place where many Indigenous languages and traditions are slowly fading, and where entire communities are rarely seen outside the region. Before becoming a photographer, he studied education, linguistics, literature, and culture. He researched Turkic literature and national culture, trying to understand how heritage can be studied and preserved. Eventually, he realised that words were not enough for him. He wanted to see the people behind the research, spend time with them, and tell stories visually.

That is what brought him to photography. Today, Gavril works across portrait, documentary, and event photography, but he is especially drawn to work that allows him to understand another person’s world. He believes that a photographer should not speak for people, but listen first and give them room to be seen as they are.

In the future, Gavril hopes to return to the questions that first interested him as a student, this time with a camera. He wants to work on long-term projects about Indigenous peoples, endangered languages, and traditions that may look very different a generation from now. For him, photographing them is not simply about documenting what is disappearing. It is about remembering what was here, understanding what is changing, and making sure these lives do not remain invisible.

Gavril is currently pursuing his M.S. in Multimedia, Photography and Design at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.