![]() Investigations revealed that parents of the exploited children were paid anywhere between 50 and 200 hryvnia per hour of shooting, with the company's monthly net income estimated at $100,000. Other members of the group remained wanted. Александра Чурсина) from Kyiv, who was arrested, and a criminal case for distributing child pornography was initiated against him. The mastermind behind the "Alex Model" agency, was a 25 year old Alexander N. This international crackdown was part of a US-led international campaign against pedophilia, which started its investigations in March 2004. The origins of some of the materials were traced back to Eastern Europe and Russia. Simultaneously, in Australia, over 150 individuals were arrested on charges of possession and distribution of child pornography. In reality, the agency psychologically manipulated the children, coaxing them into explicit photoshoots under the guise of changing outfits or playing games, ensuring that most of the young victims were oblivious to the exploitative nature of the activities. They deceived parents by presenting the façade of a legitimate modeling business, showing them reputable magazines with children on the covers, and promising similar opportunities for their kids. Sergei Bakaev, head of the department for combating crimes related to human trafficking, emphasized the manipulative strategies used by the agency to exploit children. As part of the subsequent investigation, the Alex Model agency in Kharkiv was discovered. The operations of the Kyiv-based porn studio came to close law enforcement agencies stopped its operations. Law enforcement started surveillance and collected information, and officers identified about 40 people involved in this case in one way or another. The first police report for the agency was received by the Crimean police in 2004 from a resident of Simferopol. The images of minors were then disseminated predominantly on foreign internet websites to consumers in the United States, Canada and Australia among others. The agency had many branches located throughout Ukraine, in particular in Kyiv, Kharkiv, and Simferopol. It's believed, the agency have lured approximately 1,500 girls, aged between 8 and 16. Parents, believing in opportunities for their children, brought in their kids, and the agency's workers would create explicit content. They would regularly advertise on TV, in local newspapers and radio, calling for children with a "model appearance". The agency's operations spanned several cities in Ukraine. The leaders attracted minors with the prospect of modeling opportunities, only to involve them in illicit activities. Operating predominantly in Kyiv with branches in cities like Kharkiv and Simferopol, the agency, named "Alex Model" ( Ukrainian: Алекс-Модел), was identified as one of the major producers and distributors of child pornographic content which was branded under several names throughout the world using "LS" abbreviature as LS-Models, LS-Magazine, LS-Girls, LS-Studio, LS-Island, LS-Land, LS-Dreams, LSMODELCLUB (LS Model Club). The ring had operated since 2001 and used a modeling agency as a front. This aspect brings to mind Robert Mapplethorpe whose photographs were also meticulously staged as well as characterized by an uninhibited exploration of the naked body and a penchant for the drôle.The 2004 Ukrainian child pornography raids occurred a few months before the First Orange Revolution, when police in Ukraine raided a softcore child pornography ring operating in the cities of Kyiv, Kharkiv, and Simferopol. Furthermore and running counter to his intuitive approach to shooting, Hang’s photographs also embrace a certain kind of formalism, expressed most markedly in their compositional symmetry, which along with the expressionless models, both contrast and complement their sexually-charged exhibitionism. No matter how bizarre the concept is or how contorted their posture becomes and despite their nakedness, they retain a stoic countenance giving viewers the freedom to interpret what they see as they please. And experiment he does, constructing surreal landscapes and sensual sculptures out of naked bodies, limbs, plants and animals.Ĭuriously, the people in Hang’s photos never show any emotions. This also explains why most of the models Hang uses are his friends, with whom he can be more spontaneous and relaxed and with whom he has more leeway to experiment at his leisure. What the viewer might assume as provocation or lewdness is in other words the unadulterated self-expression of an artist. Nudity as a subject matter came to him naturally, “ I didn’t even think about it” he confesses, which explains his complete disregard of boundaries and decorum.
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