Nina Ai-Artyan graduated from Moscow State Textile Academy as an artist/designer and, for the 2 to 3 years that followed, worked in her field of training. In 2003, the camera became her artist's tool, photography her passion and, since then, she has only been able to concentrate on these.

 

As she has said from the very beginning of her photographic journey, she has been especially attracted to street photography as a genre, as something very desirable, but difficult. "The street, with all its variety, its occasional absurdity, and diversity... the photographer must have the ability to see and combine these seeming incompatibilities. For the photographer it is an ideal place, that is, for a photographer who appreciates spontaneity and prefers to observe and follow—and extract from—the ordinary, yet unexpected."