Born February 27, 1959 in Moscow,
living in France since 1993.
Studied at the Lycée Romain Rolland and the University of the Humanities in Moscow
Not a very orthodox young Communist – thus not to be trusted – Vassiliev could not become an interpreter, his dream at the time. After two years of military service in the Red Army, including six months with a disciplinary battalion in Siberia, he decided to earn his living working, successively, in television, radio, and then in various factories and on construction sites. In short, the classic trajectory of every Soviet who, without being an outright dissident, refuses to adhere to the official norms.
After the perestroïka, he was finally able to exercise his profession as interpreter; he also translated French mystery novels into Russian.
It was when he arrived in France fourteen years ago that photography entered his life in an altogether fortuitous way. A journalist friend asked him to replace, on the spur of the moment, a photographer who was to accompany her on an assignment. One morning in May 1995 they left for Avignon to interview the Count De Sade and to visit the château where his ancestor, the “divine Marquis,” had lived.
Encouraged to explore, alone and self-taught, almost secretly, the meanders of conceptual photography, this became the experience that changed the course of his life.
http://www.vassiliev.fr
