ANACOSTIA PORTRAITS
By Elena Volkova and Yevgeniy K'banchik
Anacostia Portraits is a documentary exploring the vibrant, evolving community of Washington, DC's Anacostia neighborhood through 19th-century tintype photography. Photographer Elena Volkova revives the historic wet plate collodion process to create one-of-a-kind portraits that capture both the personal and collective histories of the neighborhood's residents. Each portrait session is participatory, where individuals connected to Anacostia are invited to sit for photographs, allowing their stories to unfold during the slow, deliberate process of creating a tintype.
The film delves into Anacostia's layered history—once a Native American settlement, later a center of African American culture, and now a neighborhood grappling with the effects of gentrification. The diverse groups of participants in Anacostia Portraits include lifelong residents, those who grew up and moved away, and newcomers who are building businesses and creating art in the area. As the subjects reflect on their personal journeys, the film sparks a broader conversation about community, identity, and how we define ourselves in a rapidly changing world. This visual archive, which includes over one hundred portraits, becomes a powerful meditation on how individuals and communities navigate transformation while preserving the essence of who they are.
Funded and co-produced by Honfleur Gallery and ARCH Development.
Elena Volkova is a Ukrainian-born artist and educator whose work explores liminality, subjectivity, and domesticity themes. She has exhibited her work nationally and internationally and has received numerous awards, including the Rubys Grant, the Baltimore Municipal Art Society Travel Prize, and a fellowship at Hamiltonian Artists. Volkova has also been a social practice resident at the Maryland Center for History and Culture and the Anacostia Arts Center, among other institutions.
Yevgeniy K'banchik is a Ukrainian-born filmmaker based in Baltimore. A graduate of the Moscow Film School, Yev has diverse experience in film production, with the focus in cinematography and directing. For over two decades, K’banchick has been working as an independent filmmaker, producing a range of experimental films and documentaries. K’banchik’s films have received numerous recognitions and awards: his recent film Brood X has won multiple nominations at film festivals, including Best Experimental Film in Tokyo Shorts award, semifinalist of ARFF Berlin Film Festival, and Best Experimental in New York Independent Cinema Awards. K’banchik has been a part of Pinecone Creative, a film production company whose mission is to create videos for organizations and institutions working on social justice issues and advocacy.