Urban Legends
“Urban Legends” gay photo series
This quote was my biggest inspiration for creation of “Urban Legends” gay photo series: “In a decaying society, art, if it is truthful, must also reflect decay. And unless it wants to break faith with its social function, art must show the world as changeable. And help to change it.”
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The gay photo series “Urban Legend” was conceived as a vibrant reimagining of post‑punk figures set against decaying urban backdrops. While the use of ruin and decay is not new within LGBTQ+ photo art, Dmitriy Gushchin takes the concept a step further—transforming these desolate environments into magical, surreal realms. In his vision, the remnants of collapse become luminous stages, serving as backcloths for fervent spectacles of queer identity and resilience.
Through this series, Dmitriy reclaims spaces of abandonment and imbues them with color, energy, and mythic presence. The work challenges viewers to see beauty in decay, to recognize transformation in ruin, and to witness how queer creativity can turn even the most fractured landscapes into sites of liberation and spectacle.
A limited selection from Dmitriy Gushchin’s “Urban Legend” series is available here, inviting audiences to step into this surreal fusion of post‑punk aesthetics and queer mythmaking.
Although many of the images created by Boston-based gay photo artist Dmitriy Gushchin have been banned by Instagram and other platforms under the label of “containing nudity,” Dmitriy views this as part of a broader pattern of anti-LGBTQ censorship. What began as his visionary series “Obscure Dream Liberation” has unexpectedly evolved into what he now calls the “Instagram Nightmare”—a confrontation with the limits imposed on queer artistic expression in digital spaces.
At present, Dmitriy’s Instagram account is “shadow blocked,” appearing private to non-subscribers and restricting visibility of his work. Yet this suppression only underscores the urgency of defending LGBTQ+ rights and freedom of expression. Art should never be silenced for its honesty, vulnerability, or celebration of queer identity.
By subscribing and following accounts like Dmitriy’s, you stand in solidarity with queer artists who refuse to be erased. He is not alone—this is a collective struggle, and every voice matters. Together, we can resist censorship and affirm the power of queer creativity.
You can read more in the article linked below.
You can check the article by clicking the link: https://www.advocate.com/business/instagram-shadowbanning-lgbtq-content . Please support your favorited gay photographer and LGBTQ photo artist community by expressing your opinion to Instagram and other anti-gay social networks. Your opinion hopefully can make the difference!
Realm of Hades
Dmitriy Gushchin, photographer. "Realm of Hades" reimagines the Greek underworld as a queer drama staged in urban decay, where crumbling walls and dense graffiti replace marble temples. Orpheus appears trapped inside an old-fashioned TV set, his image mediated and confined, while Euridice and Orpheus both wear a punk-rococo style that collides past elegance with rebellious subculture. Hades looms in tense confrontation with Orpheus, turning their mythic encounter into a struggle over freedom, memory, and who controls the narrative. In this fractured, electric space, Realm of Hades becomes a story about queer love trying to break through dead systems—refusing to stay silent, static, or safely off-screen.
Diversion
Dmitriy Gushchin photographer Diversion confronts the growing absence of LGBTQ+ imagery—especially erotic imagery—in contemporary art spaces, asserting that queer experience is inseparable from the broader human story. Set within the haunting shell of an abandoned building in Pattaya, the composition merges figures photographed in Boston and Bangkok, creating a dreamlike collision of places, bodies, and desires. The work plunges into the subconscious, where attraction, fear, memory, and self-revelation intertwine. In this fractured, almost cinematic world, Diversion insists that queer narratives deserve visibility, depth, and complexity—refusing erasure by transforming inner truth into vivid, surreal presence.
Price Apple
Dmitriy Gushchin photographer Prince Apple unfolds a surreal, queer tale rooted in magic realism — a composite portrait inspired by an obsessive affinity for apples. Perched on the rooftop of a half-demolished disco in Pattaya, the figure inhabits a space where glamour has crumbled but fantasy persists. The apple becomes more than a prop: a symbol of craving, myth, temptation, and transformation, with a glimpse of watch mechanism inside hinting at time, fate, and inevitability. In this charged setting, desire and identity intertwine in unexpected ways, inviting the viewer to taste the sweetness and strangeness of a world where yearning becomes visual poetry.
Batman Forever
Dmitriy Gushchin, photographer. Batman Forever is a composite portrait inspired by a friend’s fascination with Pattaya’s abandoned “Disco Batman,” a relic of pop culture left to decay in the tropics. Blending portraiture with the site’s surreal atmosphere, the image explores how icons linger in memory long after their shine fades. Through layered composition and subtle fantasy, the work transforms a forgotten attraction into a symbol of nostalgia, identity, and the strange beauty found in cultural ruins.
Life on Mars
Dmitriy Gushchin photographer
Down the Rabbit Hole
Dmitriy Gushchin, photographer. "Down the Rabbit Hole" reimagines "Alice in Wonderland" through a contemporary queer lens, transforming the classic tale into a surreal meditation on identity, fantasy, and escape. The Dodo bird symbolizes Lewis Carroll himself—both author and pioneering photographer—linking the work to the roots of imaginative image-making. The room is composed from elements photographed in Pattaya, Paris, and New York, while the models and objects originate from Boston and New York, forming a transcontinental collage of fractured reality. In this dreamlike interior, Down the Rabbit Hole invites viewers to step into a world where meaning twists, symbols deepen, and self-discovery feels as disorienting and wondrous as falling through the rabbit hole.
Tete-A-Tete
Dmitriy Gushchin photographer I noticed that most of the art shows today avoid LGBTQ+ imagery especially of erotic nature. In my view as gay photo artist, LGBTQ+ issues are human issues and I want to talk about them in my art. This is my way to cherish, protect, support and my love expression to bravery and uniqueness of each and every LGBTQ+ member. The photos of my models (including self modeling) are from New York and Bangkok, Thailand.
Alice in Wonderland
Dmitriy Gushchin photographer This modern interpretation of Alice in Wonderland becomes a metaphor for the LGBTQ+ community’s struggle within an increasingly hostile global climate. A straight model, photographed in Boston, embodies a universal “Alice” trapped in a room that is visibly too small — a symbolic space of restriction, pressure, and imposed limits. Set inside an abandoned building in Pattaya, Thailand, the scene blends innocence with decay, mirroring the search for safety and identity when political realities tighten around those who are different. Alice in Wonderland stands as a portrait of resilience, navigating confinement with the quiet courage needed to remain authentic.
Magic Lamp
Dmitriy Gushchin photographer
KINKS
Dmitriy Gushchin photographer KINKS is a composite exploration of the fetish dimension within LGBTQ+ life, framed as a space of play, identity, and negotiated power. The central figure embodies the intensity of desire, while the figure in the background — appearing to step away — suggests the shifting boundaries of consent, curiosity, and participation. Together they form a scene where roles evolve, engagement is fluid, and queer pleasure becomes a path to authenticity rather than spectacle.
Magic Trick
Dmitriy Gushchin photographer Magic Trick is a surreal parody of classic stage magic, inspired by watching a magician flanked by sexy girls in high heels. Here, that fantasy is queered: the “assistants” are men in stilettos, posing and performing in a half-demolished, decaying building. The clash between glamour and ruin turns the scene into a playful critique of spectacle and desire, celebrating queer visibility amid the rubble of old norms.
Disco Fever
Dmitriy Gushchin photographer
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