Lost in time: photographer Lily Idov goes in search of Russia’s least known museums

In her series of photos entitled Relics, Moscow-born photographer Lily Idov explores how artefacts and ephemera from the past are viewed by each passing age. The series collects more than 50 photographs taken over the past year at some of Moscow's lesser known museums (the Museum of Electrification, the Museum of Darwin, the Railway Museum, the Museum of Water Supply). Idov, who was formally based in New York and has shot for magazines including Vogue and GQ, considers how an object in a glass box somehow acquires the status of an artwork even if it's nothing more than a mannequin, a rock or a stuffed animal. Most of the museums in the photographs were opened in the late 19th century and have remained frozen in time despite the changes in politics and ideology that has swept over Russia since then. A selection of photographs will go on display at Moscow's Triumph Gallery from 28 June to 10 July.