Photographer Irina Rozovsky on Embracing Discomfort, Breaking Routine, and the Creative Process

About this episode

Photographer Irina Rozovsky joins Sasha Wolf on PhotoWork to discuss the release of her latest photobook, Mountain Black Heart (MACK). The conversation explores how Rozovsky’s nomadic photographic journey through the Balkan region shaped the book’s images and underlying atmosphere. Rozovsky and Wolf reflect on the parallels between making photographs and making a photobook, examining how distance from the routines of home, unfamiliar surroundings, and a willingness to embrace discomfort inform her creative process.  https://www.irinar.com https://www.mackbooks.us/collections/new-books/products/mountain-black-heart-irina-rozovsky Irina Rozovsky (born 1981, Moscow) is drawn to regions with complex histories. While her photographs are rooted in reality, they ultimately weave a personal, psychological portrait of place. She has published four monographs: Mountain Black Heart (MACK, 2026), In Plain Air (MACK, 2021), Island in my Mind (Verlag Kettler, 2015), and One to Nothing (Kehrer, 2011). Her work is in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art and Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the High Museum of Art, Atlanta; Virginia Museum of Fine Arts; Philadelphia Museum of Art,