This feature is part of CULTURED‘s 2026 Young Photographers list. This year’s list spotlights 14 artists aged 30 or younger from around the globe who are united by a relentless curiosity and an understanding that the photographer’s most important job is identifying what deserves to be seen.
AGE: 27
BASED IN: New York
If one thing connects Kayumova’s photographs, it’s the traces humans leave behind on an environment—be it the beach or a soot-stained factory. The Siberia-born image-maker’s black-and-white stills have recently appeared in her first photobook, CMETAHA, and in the ICP’s 2026 recent graduate exhibition, “Evidence of Existence.”
What questions does your work ask?
My work is concerned with how experiences are written into our bodies and the surfaces of objects. When it comes to materials—my recent body of work is printed on metal—my photographs ask if there is emotionality in the nonliving. What impact does human touch have on the objects around us?
What fears does your work address?
Invisibility, isolation, and impermanence.
Who do you make photographs for?
Curious people. For those who observe with precision and are interested in learning. I use photography to explore the distance between how people are seen and who they are, searching for the stories, labor, and emotions that exist beneath the surface.
Who are your visual influences?
Ultimately, my inspiration comes from within: growing up in Siberia, doing sports my whole life (a very disciplined and forensic approach to craft and composition), an interest in unconventional beauty, and the intersection of automotive design and engineering.
What do you want to see more of in photography today? Less of?
I want photographers to lean into their memory more than they lean into what’s trending. I would rather see an artist try to replicate a lighting scenario that they remember from their childhood bedroom than a polished studio lighting setup.
Meet more of CULTURED‘s 2026 Young Photographers:
Photographer Alec Dai Once Shot a Series Naked, in a Basement, Under a ‘Weird Portrait of Jesus’
Many Photographers Have Been Nominated for a Pulitzer. This One Was Nominated for a Grammy.
Photographer Arielle Gray Wants Her Subjects to Be Unafraid of Softness
For Queer Photographer Ben Jastremski, ‘Every Image I Make Is the Permission I Was Never Given’
War Still Rages in Ukraine. Photographer Conall Kearney Is There to Document It.
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